Something Wicked This Way Comes Ray Bradbury

Words: 1181
Pages: 5
Open Document
“We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones” (Stephen King). Different books each get written for a different reason. Books in the genre gothic literature got written for reasons like the one stated by Stephen King. Whatever the reason, Ray Bradbury wrote a work of gothic literature using those ideas. In Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, it exemplifies the literary movement of gothic literature in which the setting, characterization, plot, symbols, and theme, revolve around supernatural ideas encompassed with eeriness, fear, and trepidation.
Where a novel takes place, and the surroundings the characters live around, tells the reader a lot about the story. The novel by Ray Bradbury in particular illustrates a …show more content…
Most events of the story transpire in a similar mystic atmosphere with “...everything smoky-smelling and the sky orange and ash gray at twilight…” (Bradbury 1). At the beginning of the book a storm transpires in the setting. In general storms relate with darkness and fear. Relating to the concept of gothic literature, a storm in the text brings out the elements of the literary movement. The carnival endures another important piece of the setting. Unlike any other friendly carnival, it involves a freak show with many strange things occurring that one wouldn’t normally see on a regular basis. The setting could send shivers down the readers back.
Characters of a story exist as another defining point of which literary movement a certain text may fit in. Something Wicked This Way Comes contains many characters throughout the book that possess gothic traits. The first character introduced in a chapter, the lightning rod salesman, came to town to sell lightning rods that included hieroglyphic writing on it for a storm that never came. The salesman contained a mystical sense to his personality that could make the reader infer he knew about the …show more content…
The theme exemplifies what the author tries to portray throughout his creative writing process. Something Wicked This Way Comes illustrates the theme of that fear as a choice, and avoidable if you truly try. In the story Jim acquired no fear of the carnival, or of anything. Both Will and Charles obtain unsure feelings and possess fear of the evil carnival. Towards the end Will and Charles realized that fear held no necessity, and in order to defeat evil, they can choose not to be afraid. Gothic literature goes against what people believed as right. Instead, the ideas written went against public thinking. Ideas that went against society included the things that people feared. Authors of gothic literature found that that fearing forbidden ideas held no necessity, but to embrace the ideas instead. Along with other gothic authors, Ray Bradbury himself expressed his work through “an extraordinary range of intellectual, social, and cultural issues” (Boswell and Rollyson). Gothic literature carries a purpose to learn the permissibility of not believing in
Show More

Related Documents: Something Wicked This Way Comes Ray Bradbury

The Color Black In Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes

In Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury uses the symbolic meaning of the color black to describe the Dust Witch and her wickedness. This can be seen through, “ Night crawling pursuer” (Bradbury226), “Blind-newt lashes sewn tight with black-widow thread”(143), and,” The balloon shadow washed them panic” (145). The way Bradbury explains that she hunts for souls at night, which is the time of darkness, conveys how she is deep, dark and wicked. She is seen this way because she uses when people…

Words 204 - Pages 1

Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes

When it comes to time, there are 365 days in a year, twenty-four hours in a day, sixty minutes in an hour, and sixty seconds in a minute. As time ticks away, a person can never have their passed time back, not even a single second, but what if that was not true. What if a person could have their passed time back, becoming younger in the process. This is a reality in Ray Bradbury’s novel, Something Wicked This Way Comes. Bradbury plays with this idea of altering time and age with a magical carousel…

Words 1118 - Pages 5

Good And Evil In Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes

self-destructive. Evil may set out to corrupt others, but in the process it corrupts itself” -- John Connelly. In the novel, Something Wicked This Way Comes, the author, Ray Bradbury, portrays good and evil battling against each other. The people of Green Town, Illinois, has met their match when an unexpected carnival comes into their lives and brings Halloween a week early. October has never been this rare and now Jim, Will, and Charles will have to conquer what is now in front of them. Evil hides in many forms…

Words 789 - Pages 4

Symbolism In 'Something Wicked This Way Comes'

Symbolism is a way for an author of a story to create a deeper meaning than what is seen. Symbols are the carriers of these messages, and they come in all different forms. The novel Something Wicked This Way Comes uses symbolism to show the struggle two boys have against the carnival of Mr. Cooger and Mr. Dark. This carnival is different from others because of its use of magic. It brings fear to its customers through the attractions it has, of which is used as fuel to keep the carnival’s magic alive…

Words 1851 - Pages 8

Literary Elements In Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes

In Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury uses the literary element, tone, to describe the Dust Witch as terrifying. This can be seen through, “Will feared to look”(Bradbury114), “Rinsed them in terror” (144), and “ Whimper like an aggravated hound”(179). The Dust Witch is terrifying because she scares the boys to the point where they are afraid to even look at her because she is just too scary to even be seen. She is terrifying because of all the torment she causes the boys has scarred them…

Words 140 - Pages 1

Something Wicked This Way Comes Literary Analysis

In the novel Something Wicked This Way Comes Ray Bradbury uses many literary elements including irony. Dramatic and Situational irony occur often throughout the novel. One example of dramatic irony is in “In ten minutes, please, meet me in the police station….Mr.Halloway?” (Bradbury, 123). Miss Foley doesn’t know that the boys didn’t take her jewelry but her “nephew” set them up. The audience and Charles Halloway both know that the boys didn’t take her jewelry. Another example of dramatic irony…

Words 350 - Pages 2

Character Analysis: Something Wicked This Way

Love is the most powerful but invisible emotion that every man and woman seek for their entire lives, but “love isn’t something you find. Love is something that finds you.”-(Loretta Young) In the novel Something Wicked This Way by Ray Bradbury,, the main characters are Jim Nightshade and William Holloway who are best friends living in adjacent houses in Green Town, Illinois. Their uncompetitive and unconditional love for each other secured their friendship until the nefarious carnival came into town…

Words 551 - Pages 3

How To Make A Halloween Book Persuasive Essay

we have something for everyone with our 2012 Halloween reading list. Baby Books for Halloween When looking for a good Halloween themed baby book, you want to make sure you get something that isn't too scary but will still keep their attention. Here are two good choices to get you started. One, Two... Boo! by Kristen L. Depken and Claudine Gevry is a good Halloween themed book to read to babies and toddlers. With great artwork and a simple story that includes counting - of course - this is a good…

Words 661 - Pages 3

Similarities Between Will And Jim In Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes

In Ray Bradbury’s novel Something Wicked This Way Comes, the two main characters, Will and Jim, are nearly fourteen years old. Although they seem to have opposite characteristics, a closer look reveals that they’re more similar then they are different. Bradbury compares these two characters in numerous ways: he shows how other characters perceive them; he displays their similarities and differences and expands on their characteristics. Most importantly there mutual fear of the carnival and their…

Words 524 - Pages 3

Book Review 451 Essay

Book Review Ray Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451, was known for writing novel on the topic of dystopias and futuristic worlds. The Martian Chronicles and Something Wicked This Way Come were two other popular titles of his work (Biography Channel) . He was born on August 22, 1920 and died on June 5, 2012 (Biography Channel). He was born in Waukegan, Illinois. When he was a teenager, he and his family moved out to California where he would roam Hollywood. The first pay he received from…

Words 557 - Pages 3