Rhetorical Devices In Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine

In this excerpt from Dandelion Wine, ray Bradbury thoroughly guides the reader into a magical aura created solely by a young character’s mind. He utilizes an array of rhetorical devices from diction, to sensory imagery, to simile that take a dull town and outline a new mystical atmosphere spawned by 12-year-old Douglas' youthful imagination.

Initially, Bradbury constantly characterizes the town's still personality by personifying and comparing its features with other objects. In his writing, the author adds that "the town covered over with darkness and at ease in bed". This gives a sense of human character to the town to further emphasize Douglas' lucid imagination. The author also writes that Douglas "let summer idle him on its early morning run", as if the summer had cast a spell that forced him to do absolutely nothing. By personifying the town, and the summer, the concepts are couched in a human context to make it relatable. He gives a sense of life to these inanimate objects to connect with the reader and convey his meaning more effectively. Additionally, the towns trees are then metaphorized to the intricate flow of water while they're washing together". Her he allows the reader to draw a

For example, he creates a visualization for the reader when he writes that Douglas saw “Birds leap from trees like a net thrown by his hand” while he “conducted an orchestra”. He is seeing things that are real but relates them to figments of his creative thoughts. This sets a comparison between bird leaping and a net being thrown. When introducing the birds, Bradbury demonstrates the reoccurring theme of seeing things differently than what they are. Concluding the excerpt, he alludes how Douglas smiles a “magician’s smile”. Seeing as everything is built by Douglas mind, he vies his own creations as being conjured by sole magic, which would then make him the