Bradbury’s use of sun imagery foreshadows the outcome of this study of absolute horror. The sun imagery depicts the wholeness of life, a quality now lacking where Marie is concerned, for everything reminds Marie of the mummified people standing in a queue within the catacombs. Foreshadowing begins early in the […]

Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Next in Line””

Bradbury employs symbolism in regard to his characters’ names in this story. Characteristically, Mr. Bigelow is “big.” He has high aspirations for himself as a writer. However, he is also “low” in his estimation of himself, as well as low in stature since he is a dwarf. Aimee is also […]

Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Dwarf””

The beauty of music as characterized by water imagery gives the elderly men the renewed strength of spirit that they have needed for a long time. Their mundane existence on this furnace-like desert is transformed into an abundant life of joy, for the life-giving rains of music fall upon them […]

Read more Summary and Analysis: Medicine for Melancholy The Day It Rained Forever””

“The Strawberry Window,” like “The End of the Beginning,” is Bradbury’s statement of belief in the necessity of travel to outer space. Robert Prentiss is the person through whom Bradbury speaks. Prentiss tries to persuade his wife to consider the importance of their inhabiting Mars. He tells her that one […]

Read more Summary and Analysis: Medicine for Melancholy The Strawberry Window””

Water imagery, a favorite of Bradbury’s, again is the major symbol in this story. First, the mermaid, the gift that the sea gives to Tom, is described: Her eyelids are a faint water color, her mouth is a pale sea rose, and her body seems alive only when the sea […]

Read more Summary and Analysis: Medicine for Melancholy The Shore Line at Sunset””

First published in Escapade Magazine as “The Mice,” this story is another example of Bradbury’s desire to write a narrative that uses a subtle twist on reality. Here the thrust of his efforts lies in the element of suspense as the reader is encouraged to use his imagination. Mice imagery […]

Read more Summary and Analysis: Medicine for Melancholy The Little Mice””

Another of Bradbury’s nationalistically oriented stories, “The Great Collision of Monday Last” treats several of humanity’s blacker desires. Here, he depicts the thrill which a person feels when he flirts with danger and the unknown, and when, more specifically, he readies himself for the possibility of destroying a life. McGuire […]

Read more Summary and Analysis: Medicine for Melancholy The Great Collision of Monday Last””

“The Gift” is another of the stories exhibiting the great value that Bradbury perceives in the space program. Being in space and seeing the universe from this perspective become a religious experience for the boy in this story. Here, the wonder of the first star of long years ago, the […]

Read more Summary and Analysis: Medicine for Melancholy The Gift””

Prior to the sun’s appearance, the children are described as being so pale that they are almost colorless. The rain has washed the yellow from their hair, the blue from their eyes, and the red from their lips. The good qualities in their personalities have also seemingly been washed away […]

Read more Summary and Analysis: Medicine for Melancholy All Summer in a Day””

Throughout the realm and scope of Bradbury’s writings, the idea of death often appears. “The Time of Going Away” treats this idea in a somewhat light manner. Bradbury believes that everyone entertains thoughts of death sometime in his life. At the same time, he is convinced that we have more […]

Read more Summary and Analysis: Medicine for Melancholy The Time of Going Away””