Something Wicked This Way Comes is a 1962 novel by Ray Bradbury. It is about two 13yearold boys, Jim Nightshade and William Halloway, who have a harrowing experience with a nightmarish traveling carnival that comes to their Midwestern town one October. The carnival's leader is the mysterious "Mr. Dark" who bears a tattoo for each person who, lured by the offer to live out his secret fantasies, has become bound in service to the carnival. Mr. Dark's malevolent presence is countered by that of Will's father, , who harbors his own secret desire to regain his youth because he feels as though he is too old for Will.
The novel combines elements of fantasy and horror, analyzing the conflicting natures of good and evil, and on how they come into play between the characters and the carnival. Unlike many of Bradbury's other works, including the tangentially related Dandelion Wine, which is a collection of loosely related short stories, Something Wicked This Way Comes is a fulllength novel. Electrico who commanded him to "Live forever!" The 12yearold Bradbury, intrigued at the concept of eternal life, revisited Mr. Electrico, who spurred his passion for life by heralding him as the reincarnation of a friend lost in World War I. After that memorable day, Bradbury began writing nonstop.[1]
The novel originated in 1955 when Bradbury suggested to his friend Gene Kelly that they collaborate on a movie for Kelly to direct. He offered his 1948 short story "The Black Ferris" as an 80page outline treatment.[2] When Kelly was unable to obtain financial backing for the movie, Bradbury expanded the treatment to novel length. He converted the benign presence of Mr. Electrico into a more sinister one and incorporated several members he met at the same carnival with Mr. Electrico, including the Illustrated Man and the Skeleton Man.[3]
The novel's title was quoted directly from William Shakespeare's Macbeth: "By the pricking of my thumbs / Something wicked this way comes."
Something Wicked This Way Comes can be interpreted as an autumn sequel to the summer of Bradbury's Dandelion Wine. The two works are set in the fictitious Green Town (based on Bradbury's hometown, Waukegan, Illinois), but have different tones, with Something Wicked having an emphasis on the more serious side of the transition from childhood to adulthood. While none of the characters in Dandelion Wine make an appearance in Something Wicked, William Halloway and Jim Nightshade can be viewed as oneyear older representations of Dandelion Wine's Douglas Spaulding and John Huff, respectively.[4] These two novels, coupled with Bradbury's official 2006 sequel to Dandelion Wine, Farewell Summer, make up the Green Town trilogy. A 2008 collection of short stories Summer Morning, Summer Night are also set in Green Town.
Plot summary
The novel opens on an overcast October 23. Two friends, William "Will" Halloway and Jim Nightshade, both on the verge of their fourteenth birthdays, encounter a strange lightning rod salesman who claims that a storm is coming their way. Throughout that same night, Will and Jim meet up with townsfolk who also sense something in the air; the barber says that the air smells of cotton candy. Among the townspeople is Will's 54yearold father, (who works in the local library, and who broods philosophically about his position in life, including on how he misses being young like his son). Both and the boys learn about the carnival that is to start the next day. Will's father sees a sign in a store window that advertises Cooger Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show, while Jim and Will find a similar handbill in the street. The boys are excited that a carnival has come so late in the year, but has a bad feeling about it.
The boys run out to watch the carnival arrive at three in the morning, and they run home after seeing the tents get set up mysteriously. Mr. Halloway talks about this time of night as "soul's midnight", when men are closest to death, locked in the depths of despair. The boys go the next day to explore the carnival and they help their seventh grade teacher, Miss Foley, who is dazed after visiting the Mirror Maze. Later in the day, Jim goes into the maze and Will has to pull him out. Jim insists on coming back that night, and Will agrees, but when they bump into the lightningrod salesman's bag, they realize that they must stay to learn what has happened to the man. Finally, after searching all of the rides, they go up to a carousel that is supposedly broken. A huge man grabs Will and Jim and tells them that the merrygoround is broken. Another man tells him to put them down, introduces himself as Mr. Dark and tells them the huge man's name is Mr. Cooger. Mr. Dark is the Illustrated Man, covered in tattoos, and he pays attention only to Jim, who is enthralled by what he sees. Mr. Dark tells them to come back the next day and the boys run off but then hide and wait. What they see is unbelievable. Mr. Cooger rides backwards on the carousel (while the music plays backwards), and when he steps off he is twelve years old.
They follow Mr. Cooger to Miss Foley's house, where he pretends to be her nephew who got lost earlier at the carnival. Jim tries to meet up with Mr. Cooger because he wants to ride the carousel, but Will stops him briefly before Jim takes off toward the carnival. When Will reaches the carnival Mr. Cooger is on the carousel, growing older, and Jim is about to join him. Will knocks the switch on the carousel and it flies out of control, spinning rapidly forward. Mr. Cooger ages over 100 years before the carousel stops, and Jim and Will take off. They return with the police, but Mr. Cooger is nowhere to be found. Inside the tents he is set up as a new act, Mr. Electrico, a man they run electricity through. Mr. Dark tells the boys to come back to the carnival the next day. Will tries to keep his father out of the situation, promising him that he will tell all soon. That night, the Dust Witch comes in her balloon to find Jim and Will, but Will outsmarts her and destroys her balloon. They later both dream of a bizarre funeral for the balloon, featuring a giant, misshapen coffin.
The next day the boys see a young girl crying and realize after talking to her that she is Miss Foley. They go to her house but when they come back their path is blocked by a parade. The carnival is out searching the streets for them. They hide and the little girl is gone. Will's father sees them hiding under an iron grille in the sidewalk and the boys convince him to keep quiet because the Illustrated Man comes to talk to him. Will's father pretends not to know the two boys whose faces are tattooed on the man's hand, and then when the Witch comes and begins to sense the boys' presence he blows cigar smoke at her, choking her and forcing her to leave. Mr. Dark asks for his name, and Will's father tells him where he works and who he is. Later that night Will and Jim meet Mr. Halloway at the library, where he has done research and found out some things about the carnival. He tells them that their best weapon is love, but they are not sure how to fight. Then Mr. Dark shows up and the boys hide. He finds them and crushes 's hand when the man tries to fight him. The Dust Witch casts spells on the boys to make them easy to handle and goes to stop Mr. Halloway's heart. Just before he is about to die, looks at the Witch and begins to laugh hysterically, and his laughter wounds her deeply and drives her away. He goes to the carnival to get the boys.
At the carnival outsmarts Mr. Dark, finds his son, kills the Witch, and destroys the Mirror Maze in a matter of minutes, all through the use of laughter and happiness. Then he and Will search for Jim. Mr. Cooger turns to dust and blows away before he can be saved at the carousel, and Jim moves towards the merrygoround. Jim starts to ride and Will tries to stop him. They both end up going for a ride before Will jumps off and rips Jim away from the machine. Jim falls into a stupor, close to death. A child comes begging them to help him, but Mr. Halloway recognizes the boy as Mr. Dark. He holds the boy tight and kills him with affection, because Mr. Dark cannot survive in such close contact with someone good. The carnival falls apart as Will tries to revive Craig Stevens Jersey Jim. They save Jim by singing and dancing and laughing; their happiness bringing him back from the edge of death.
William "Will" Halloway
Born one minute before midnight on October 30, Will is described as having done "only six years of staring." (He is described as having whiteblonde hair with eyes "as clear as summer rain".) Will is naturally obedient and wary of getting involved in difficult situations; nonetheless, he takes on an active role in fighting the carnival's evil power.
James "Jim" Nightshade
Born one minute after midnight on October 31, Jim is brooding and brash, acting as a foil for Will's cautiousness and practicality. He's not very close to his son, but eventually gains selfawareness and faith while up against the carnival (defeating the "Dust Witch" and "Jed/Mr. Dark"). He becomes a fighter in his own right by the end of the novel, along with gaining the admiration, love, and friendship of his son.
G. Authentic Michael Griffin Jersey M. Dark
The main antagonist, a sinister man who bears tattoos all over his body; one for each person successfully tempted into joining the carnival. Mr. Dark initially holds sway over the other main characters, but his power weakens when Charles uses positive emotions against him, something he cannot comprehend or withstand. Dark's background is a mystery, although he refers to being raised in a strict religious upbringing. When asked if he reads the Bible, he replies, "I've had every page, line and word read at me, sir!" Another, perhaps more fitting interpretation of the Bible sequence, given his dismissive nature to Charles and his array of books, would be that he is mocking Charles' belief that the Bible would have any sort of effect in either repelling or hurting him. This would indicate that Dark is not a devil or demon in the Christian sense of the term.[citation needed]
J. Authentic Craig Stevens Jersey C. Cooger
Dark's partner in running the carnival, Mr. Cooger is a fierce, redheaded man who is first seen repairing the carousel. He catches and terrifies Will and Jim until Mr. Dark intervenes. In the guise of her twelveyearold nephew, he is able to persuade Miss Foley to come to the carnival. The tables are turned on him, however, when Will increases the speed of the carousel as Mr. Cooger is riding it, causing him to rapidly age to the point of decrepitude. At the climax of the book he crumbles into dust and dies when the freaks accidentally drop him while carrying him back to the carousel. Like Mr. Dark, his origins are unknown.
The Dust Witch Michael Griffin Jersey
A blind soothsayer with a sixth sense and the ability to perform many feats of magic, the Witch is portrayed as one of the carnival's most dangerous members. However, her increased sensitivity to the presence and emotions of other people makes her vulnerable to positive feelings. Charles uses this weakness to kill her with a bullet carved with a smile.
Miss Foley
A fiftyyearold schoolteacher of Will and Jim. Much like the other victims of the carnival, Miss Foley wished to become young. Her wish is granted, although she is transformed into a little girl with all her memories intact, unable to return to her former life and with no one to take care of her. It is not stated in the novel what happened to Miss Foley at the end; the best theory is that she ran away with the freaks as the carnival collapsed.
The Skeleton Michael Griffin Titans Jersey
An extremely thin, skeletonlike creature who is one of the more frequently appearing freaks. Like all of the other freaks, he once desired to be younger and was eventually tricked into joining the carnival. The Skeleton appears to be one of the more loyal freaks as, near the book's end, he takes the time to carry the recently deceased and youth Mr. Dark with him after all the other freaks ran away. He is last seen walking away into the hills that border the Craig Stevens Titans Jersey town.