Comparison Of Fahrenheit 451 And Something Wicked This Way Comes

In three sections with subchapters packed full of mystery and suspense, Something Wicked This Way Comes delivers a story about two boys named Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade who are faced with the looming danger of a dark and suspicious carnival that arrives in their quiet Midwestern town.
The novel starts off on an October night as Jim and Will were approached by a lightning rod salesman who warns them of lighting that would hit Jim’s house and leaves them with one of his lighting rods for free(7). Going into town, the two boys come across Mr. Crossetti the barber who is in distress from the distant smell of cotton candy and licorice. Since Crossetti knows that nowhere else in town but a circus would have these available, the boys grow

curious(23). At three in the morning, the boys heard the sound of a train engine and rush through town to find the source of the noise and come across the circus setting up. Although, the circus was portrayed much darker and more eerily than a normal one. Scared and afraid, the boys fled back home to safety(50-54).
The next chapters begins with the next day, as Will and Jim go to the carnival to inspect and to confirm what they had seen the previous night although, they find nothing but an ordinary carnival, except for the mirror maze, which had spooked their teacher Mrs. Foley who was searching for her lost nephew an later in the day, Will found Jim staring into the maze almost transfixed in an odd manner(68). Realising they’re late for diner, they rush home and almost fall over the leather bad the lightning rod salesman was carrying earlier. Realising that something may have gone wrong, as the bag is important to the salesman, the boys turn back for the circus hoping to solve the mystery of the missing man(71-72). In the circus, they find a carousel that is out of order, and since it is after hours, this attracts the attention of Mr. Cooger and Mr. Dark. Seeing Mr. Dark as suspicious, both of the boys hide after Dark turns them away from the ride. Once Mr. Dark is satisfied with the ghostly silence of the now dead fairgrounds, he sends Cooger onto the carousel. As it goes backwards, Cooger grows younger with every circle around(73-80). In shock, they run after him and discover that he is Robert, Mrs. Foley’s lost nephew.
The beginning of the next section starts with an incident with the police and the rest of the carnies(104). After this incident, the circus found out they knew too much and sent the dust witch and the balloon mentioned in the setup of the carnival to search for their houses. Will and Jim catch onto their plot and deflate the balloon with an arrow and wash away the marker that the dust witch had put there(140-151). The next morning, Will and Jim descend into deep danger as the carnival had set up a search party with the disguise of a parade. Hiding in a sewage drain, Will’s dad comes across them and tries to offer comfort and help before being interrupted by Mr. Dark(162-176). After a long dad of hiding, they flee to the library where Will’s dad had told them to go to meet him in safety where in the library they find that the circus has been going around since 1846 and uses a type of dark magic to stay alive. However, from a slip up in their conversation earlier lead Mr. Dark and the carnies to the library where they had then captured the boys. During this scene, Charles discovers the circuses weakness; happiness(208-230).
The last section of the book starts with Charles running to the circus before it's too late and finds the carnies in an act. Using this newfound weapon he had found earlier, Charles defeats the dust witch in one of the circus acts and frees the boys from the zombie like state they had been put in by the witch(241-251). With the dust witch finally dead, they run off to find Jim who had disappeared in the mirror maze. Getting out of the maze they find Jim at the carousel trying to change his age which almost kills him if it wasn’t for Will and Charles(263-270). Mr. Dark, who changed himself back into a boy had tried to deceive Charles however he did not fall for his trick and finally ended the fight by using the power of happiness against him as well(270-274).
One of the many habits of Ray Bradbury is the use of fiction and the setting of dread and a more darker theme which pairs well with the books mystery aspect. Something Wicked This Way Comes and Fahrenheit 451, both follow a similar path in story planning and the direction the characters go with the exception that Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian theme which Something Wicked This Way Comes heavily lacks. The book is mostly set toward more advanced audiences as the book contains many philosophical discussions and ideas which would be much harder for a younger audience to read.
Some of the many literary devices used in Something Wicked This Way Comes is imagery which is heavily used. A couple examples of imagery used in this book is the description of the lightning rod(7), the circus setup(53), and the balloon(141). Another literary device that is used is hyperboles and is used when talking about the most beautiful woman in the world(43-44), and Will’s dad putting his smile on the bullet(248-249). Last is foreshadowing, which is the most heavily used literary device in the book. Another example is the disappearance of the salesman(71), the carousel ticket that Mrs. Foley gets(122), and the mistake in Charles and Mr. Dark’s discussion(179).
Some of the similarities Fahrenheit 451 and Something Wicked Comes This Way have in common is the feeling of being trapped and overpowered by the antagonist.

For example, in Fahrenheit 451, Captain Beatty directly pressured Montag and left him with a sense of doom after finding out he read many books, while in Something Wicked This Way Comes Will and Jim are constantly being threatened by the danger that is the circus. These two books also share the same good versus evil plotline as both sets of characters are fighting for one goal against the antagonist. However, one of the differences is that Fahrenheit 451 is portrayed in a dystopian future while Something Wicked This Way Comes is set in the 1950’s on an average week and has a lack of government to the level that plays in Fahrenheit 451. However it does have some aspects a dystopian novel would have such as the characteristics the antagonists are given and how they were portrayed in the

book.
The plot of both books are also entirely separate, but share the discovery of something as Montag is given the discovery of the book and the two boys are faced with the discovery and mystery of a wicked circus with evil intentions. However they do not share a direct plot line as Something Wicked This Way Comes delivers a message against greed and to respect and love what you already have as not only Mr. Dark played the antagonist but the desires in the book as well proved a difficult challenge to the characters. The plot of Fahrenheit 451 focuses more on displaying the importance of literature in society, which without it it created the perfect conditions for a corrupt government and does not pair with Something Wicked This Way Comes.
Something Wicked This Way Comes is a very enjoyable novel, as throughout the book I was left in suspense and was drawn to the mystery of the circus.

Although in many of the pages the long philosophical speeches given to Will and Jim by Charles drew on for too long and thinned my interest. However the amount of suspense and the feeling of doom on almost every page made up for Charles’s speeches. Fahrenheit 451 did follow this story pattern around the same, but was imagined differently and had centered around the burning of books which I was not as interested in. Fahrenheit 451 was also paced slower with fewer shocking outcomes, which also degraded my interest in the story. However the end of Fahrenheit 451 was very strong and left off on a very interesting end with the destruction of the city, but Something Wicked This Way Comes I feel ends rather weakly and failed to capture my interest with Jim’s revival and the use of happiness as a weapon. Out of the two books I have read, I favor Something Wicked This Way Comes more for its small events that draw you into shocking reveals such as the disappearance of some of the town folk to then discover that the circus was responsible for their disappearance and one of my personal favorites was the suspenseful discussion between Mr. Dark and Charles while the boys lay hidden

below.
Bradbury’s influence for Something Wicked This Way Comes comes from when he recalled that a circus magician named Mr. Electro had tapped him with a sword and commanding him to live forever(Authors). Putting this fractured idea of a circus and living forever, he would soon go on to create one of his finest books. In a career spanning 70 years, Ray Bradbury has been awarded many times including the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Pulitzer Prize, and many more(Gerald). In some of the last years of his life, he described he felt as if he was one of the happiest men on earth as he has influenced thousands of people while writing freely for himself.