An Analysis Of Something Wicked This Way Comes

Throughout all of Ray Bradbury’s works, he has a writing style that is distinctly his own. He implements the use of kinesthetic imagery and impassioned diction in order to reveal to the reader the simplest truths in life. Something Wicked This Way Comes, is a coming of age story revolving around things that go bump in the night. In this book we are taught lessons about ageing which reveal the truth about Good and Evil. The characters learn these truths through the power of love and acceptance. ““Dad," said Will, his voice very faint. "Are you a good person?" "To you and your mother, yes, I try. But no man's a hero to himself. I've lived with me a lifetime, Will. I know everything worth knowing about myself-" "And, adding it all up...?" "The

“ Watching the boys vanish away, Charles Halloway suppressed a sudden urge to run with them, make the pack. He knew what the wind was doing to them, where it was taking them, to all the secret places that were never so secret again in life”(Something Wicked 19). This passage emphasizes that temptations can lead us to choices that feed the Evil inside of us. Charles Halloway longs for youth, which leaves him susceptible to the temptations of the carnival. The carnival is representative of the evils in the world, so for him to be attracted to this prospect is indeed dangerous. While Halloway is able to resist these temptations, others were not as lucky. ““I haven't smelled that in years," said Mr. Crosetti. Jim snorted. "It's around." "Yes, but who notices? When? No, my nose tells me, breathe! And I'm crying. Why? Because I remember how a long time ago, boys ate that stuff. Why haven't I stopped to think and smell the last thirty years” (Something Wicked 23)? The reader can assume that because Mr. Crosetti yearned for his childhood, that he failed to resist these temptations explaining his mysterious disappearance. Perhaps if Mr. Crosetti had persevered through these temptations, his desires would have been fulfilled like Charles Halloway, who at the end of the book got to run with the children, proving that youthfulness is a state of mind, not a state of

From the beginning, the reader is confronted with the idea of a home that cares for its inhabitants, as opposed to the other way around. “They walked down the hall of their soundproofed Happylife Home, which had cost them thirty thousand dollars installed, this house which clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them” (Bradbury “The Veldt”). This portion of the text creates images we are accustomed to, but instead of a mother or father taking care of these needs, it is their house. It is an unsettling image. The story proceeds with the parents inspecting the children’s nursery; yet this is no ordinary nursery. This nursery fulfills the children's wishes and shows them that which they would like to see. The nursery shows them an African grassland where death is in the air. Bradbury foreshadows their end when the wife suggests they lock the nursery for a few days and George responds with “You know how difficult Peter is about that. When I punished him a month ago by locking the nursery for even a few hours - the tantrum he threw! And Wendy too. They live for the nursery”(Bradbury “The Veldt”). With this statement alone, we know George and Lydia are already losing control of their children, and it is only a matter of time before they lose their control entirely. The days of picture perfect