Character Clues
Character Analysis
Actions
When your main character is twelve years old, on summer vacation, and doesn't have any video games, you get a lot of action, and we see Doug's compassion and sensitivity with every step he takes. He cries when characters die in the movies, offers to run errands for Mr. Sanderson in exchange for a pair of sneakers, saves the Tarot Witch by attempting to carry her home on his back, and restores his grandma's cooking magic by messing up her kitchen—which, to be clear, in this case, is an act of kindness. Your grandma might not feel the same way.
Doug isn't the only character showing kindness and generosity though his actions. Think of Mr. Jonas and his brilliant plan to save Doug's life, for instance, or Tom's steadfast loyalty to his big bro. But importantly, we also see the bad guys through their actions.
The Lonely One, obviously, is a bad guy because he kills people; we're with Doug, Lavinia, and Francine when they find Elizabeth Ramsell's body. Mr. Black is in a drunken rage throughout his chapter, yelling at the Tarot Witch, ripping her out of Doug's arms, and tossing her in the ravine. And Miss Fern and Miss Roberta tempt us to dislike them when they hide in the attic after their accident with the Green Machine, though they redeem themselves somewhat when they declare themselves a menace to society and unplug the Green Machine forever.
Thoughts and Opinions
Not only do we hear the characters' philosophies in Dandelion Wine, we're privy to their deepest desires and secrets, which allows us to sympathize with (and even love) them even when they only appear for a chapter or two.
Doug pontificates endlessly, not just in his notebook, but out loud to Tom. We hear his thoughts constantly: Time can be slowed down by remaining inactive and watching; grownups and kids belong to separate races; he's alive and wants to feel everything (lather, rinse, repeat). Whether we're inside his head or hanging out anywhere in his vicinity, Doug's thoughts are near-constant clues to who he is and what he thinks of the world around him.
And Tom acts as an echo to Doug's pontification, sort of like a Greek chorus in the form of a ten-year-old brother who occasionally punches him in the nose or pretends to shoot him with a cannon. Tom's role as chorus is especially apparent in the brief chapters in which Doug writes in his notebook, when Tom either tells him what to write or states Doug's theories in alternate ways. Tom's all about his bro, which is both good to know about him and also keeps us in the loop as readers.
Family Life
Back in 1928, there was no such thing as eating dinner in front of the television or computer, so families were forced to talk to each other. And there was no Facebook or G-chat, so extended families and neighbors actually hung out together on the porch. You don't realize how different things were back then until you read a book like Dandelion Wine and see the Auffmanns gathered around the dinner table with their fresh-baked bread, or three generations of Spauldings having dinner with the entire boarding house.
On her death bed, Great-grandmother Spaulding says to Doug, "No person ever died that had a family." And just before she dies, Bradbury writes, "At last the entire family stood, like people seeing someone off at the rail station, waiting in the room." How many people today die surrounded by four generations of relatives, who just happen to all be in the house? Except for how long it must have taken to get into the bathroom in the morning, 1928 is sounding kind of good.