In the book Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, there are several innovations, including the Happiness Machine, the Green Machine, the Time Machine and no grow grass. These innovations play small, but important roles in telling the story and conveying the theme of an ironic relationship between people and machines. This theme reincarnates it self many times
The first innovation and the most important, for theme development, the reader is presented to Leo Auffmann's Happiness Machine. This innovation role is to establish the theme. Lena Auffmann displays this best when during her try at the machine she breaks out crying. The machine produces the exact opposite of its intended result instead of making Lena Auffmann happy it makes her sad, in her words, "Oh, it's the saddest thing in the world!" (Page 60) It makes her sad because it is too easy to see something and she knows it is not the real thing. The reader realizes happiness must be experienced first hand not through a machine.
The next innovation the reader is introduced to is the Green Machine, that Miss Fern and Miss Roberta bought. This innovation makes them showoffs, which they like, and it backfires when it gets in an accident with Mr. Quartermain. Instead of making them look like good showoffs they have instead the townspeople look down on them. This machine produces the opposite of the response of Miss Fern and Miss Roberta want in the townspeople. This also makes Miss Fern and Miss Roberta think of themselves as criminals and they become scared of the townspeople which is shown in this quotation, "We can't stay in the attic three weeks hiding till everybody forgets." (Page 94)
Another innovation is no grow grass. This grass is planted in small cores and then spreads eventually all the grass becoming no grow. This innovation although helpful for those without time, but Grampa Spalding does not like it because, "All the things in life that were put here to savor, you eliminate. Save time, save work you say. ... you got to look for grapes as well as watermelons. You greatly admire skeletons and I like fingerprints..." (Page 50). The grass represents convenience to Bill Forrester but causes offense to the older generation that cherishes the small things. The theme here is that some machines provide small pleasures that should not be removed by the newer generation. The irony is that machines, though cumbersome, is comfort to many others.
The final "machine" is the Time Machine, better known as Colonel Freeleigh. Colonel Freeleigh is a Time Machine in the sense that he can tell stories of historic events. He needs to be split into two parts, one part is his memories, the Time Machine, and the other is his physical body. The irony in the relationship between his memories, the machine, and his body, the person, arises when his memories overwhelm his body when they are brought up for him to think about. This causes his body to make it self sicker and eventually this would kill him and his memories.
Bradbury spreads his social views that machines often produce the opposite of the intended response, but after a while the machine becomes necessary to the persons well being. Bradbury's theme of the ironc relationship between people and machines is well presented to the reader.