ABSTRACT
Ray Bradbury’s From the Dust Returned can be seen as a counterpoint to his Green Town stories. In Dandelion Wine, Bradbury painted an idyllic portrait of American life in the early twentieth century, yet even in this nostalgic tale of growing up, we see hints of more sinister elements that he would explore further in Something Wicked This Way Comes. The Elliot family is the gothic antithesis of the Spauldings, yet even in this macabre family unit we see echoes of the nostalgia and search for meaning that envelop the Green Town books. The characters of Douglas in Green Town and Timothy in From the Dust Returned both search for their place in a world that can be difficult for a young boy to comprehend, yet their enthusiasm and optimism demonstrate a celebration of life that is a hallmark of Bradbury’s work. By examining the Green Town books and From the Dust Returned closely, we can get a clear sense of how this fix-up novel is informed by the rest of his fiction. Though perhaps less celebrated than some of his other works, it is nonetheless an iconic work of American fiction, and epitomizes Bradbury’s explorations of gothic horror, small-town life, and boyhood optimism.
