Something Wicked This Way Come Analysis

Friendship is defined as the emotion and conduct of two people who care deeply for one another in a platonic manner. Something Wicked This Way Comes, written by Ray Bradbury, explored the friendship between two childhood friends, Jim Nightshade and Will Halloway, as they defeated the danger in their city, Greentown. William F. Russell portrayed in his version of Damon and Pythias the friendship of Damon and Pythias as they learned the importance of time and death. Jim and Will truly embodied friendship compared to Damon and Pythias through their struggle and triumph, Damon and Pythias along with Jim and Will displayed the meaning of being a true friend.
Something Wicked This Way Comes displayed Jim and Will’s friendship through innocence and

trust in one another. The two were bound to be friends as Nightshade and Halloway shared everything with each other except their birthdays, which were two minutes apart. “I was born one minute before midnight October thirtieth, Jim was born one minute after midnight, which makes it October thirty-first.” (Bradbury 5)
“By their voices, the boys had told the takes all their lives, proud of their mothers, living house next to house, running for the hospital together, bringing sons into the world seconds apart; one light, one dark. There was a history of mutual celebration behind
them. Each year Will lit the candles on a single cake at one minute to midnight. Jim, at one minute after, with the last day of the month begun, blew them out.” (Bradbury 5)
“The two boys, barely thirteen, managed to survive the treatment from Mr. Dark as almost wax figures. For Will stood in the entrance of the Maze, like the wax figure that he almost was.” (Bradbury 133) “Jim, among the dummies, blew all the air from his lungs. Will shrieked himself awake, on the platform.” (Bradbury 137) As Will was the first of the duo to be saved, he went to save Jim from the magic of Dark and Cooger. “Jim! Will’s side was stabbed with pain. I need you! Come back! (Bradbury 147) Half in, half out. Jim’s been that, always. Sore-tempted. Now he went too far and maybe he’s lost. But he fought to save himself, right? Put his hand out to you, to fall free of the machine? So we finish that fight for him. Move!” (Bradbury 154)
“They [Will and Charles Halloway] do-si-doed… They hopped Jim one way, hopped back, as if he were but a lump-stone on the grass.

Jim did the final things himself. They did not even say ‘Hello Jim’ or ‘Join in the dance,’ they just put out hands as if he had fallen from their swung pandemonium commotion and needed a boost back into the swarm. And Will knew, hand in hand, hot palm to palm, they had truly yelled, sung, gladly shouted the live blood back.” (Bradbury 157)
Bradbury expressed the Nightshade-Halloway friendship through the literary term, foil. Foil was when one used a character to highlight one or more attributes of another, which gave contrast between the two. Nightshade and Halloway were different as noted by the books they read, Jim read black hat books while Will enjoyed mysteries. Jim wanted to go on the merry-go-round to be older while Will liked being his age. “I will remember when I am older!” (Bradbury 54)
“Will runs because running is its own excuse. Jim runs because something is up ahead of him. Yet, strangely, they do run together. So there they go, Jim running slower to stay with Will, Will running faster to stay with Jim, Jim breaking two windows in a haunted house because Will’s along, Will breaking one instead of none, because Jim was watching. God how we get our fingers in each other’s clay. That’s friendship, each playing the potter to see what shapes we can make of the other.” (Bradbury

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Damon and Pythias expressed Damon and Pythias’ friendship through courage and ultimate loyalty. Damon and Pythias were so close that everyone in the city of Sicily looked up to hem as an example of friendship. “Each trusted the other so completely that nobody could ever have persuaded one that the other had been unfaithful or dishonest, even if that had been the case.” (Russell 110) Their friendship was put to the test as Damon put his life on the line for Pythias. “Pythias immediately thought of his friend Damon, and he unhesitatingly sent for him in this hour of dire necessity. Damon hastened straightaway to the palace and gladly offered to be held hostage.” (Russell 110) Dionysius, the ruler at the time, often asked Damon if he had doubts on his friend’s return but Damon did not lose faith on Pythias. “Even when a short time later, he was actually led to the site of his execution, his serenity remained the same.” (Russell 111) “There was much sobbing and cries of sympathy were heard all around as the captive was brought out, through he himself somehow retained complete composure.” (Russell 111)
“There is no need for me to feel afraid, O King, since I have perfect faith in the word of my true friend, and I know that he will certainly return before the appointed time - unless, of course, he dies or is held captive by some evil force. Even so, even should the noble Pythias be captured and held against his will, it would be an honor for me to die in his place.” (Russell 111)
Russell showed their friendship through the use of foreshadowing. The definition of foreshadowing was to give a warning or indication of a future event. “Presently the excitement grew more intense still as a swift runner could be seen approaching the palace courtyard at an astonishing speed.” (Russell 111)
Something Wicked This Way Comes and Damon and Pythias expressed the power of friendship through their triumphs and struggles, but Bradbury’s interpretation of friendship was expressed better than Damon and Pythias. Damon was saved a few moments before his execution. “Pythias rushed headlong through the crowd and flung himself into the arms of his beloved friend, sobbing with relief that he had, by the graces of the gods, arrived in time to save Damon’s life.” (Russell 112) They managed to crack open the stony heart of Dionysius. “He begged the pair to allow him to become their friend, to try to be as much a friend to them both as they had shown each other be.” (Russell 112) The young Will and Jim had a friendship and saved their town and themselves from the darkness from the world.
“The story is spun from his [Ray Bradbury’s] own youthful experiences of the carnival: the sense of magic and of the fantastic, and the seduction thereof. He fuses these experiences to a story of American-gothic horror and the timeless themes that constitute
any coming-of-age story, themes exemplified by the central quartet of characters. Jim and Will are childhood friends, growing up and experiencing everything life offered together. But when the carnival arrives, promising change, one friend reaches out, eager to experience what his future offers, while the other recoils, afraid to lose what has constituted their shared past.” (originally entitled Ray Bradbury- Something Wicked This Way Comes)
Will, unlike Pythias, actually saved Jim from death through the power of happiness with the help of his father. “Damn it, Willy, all this, all these, Mr. Dark and his sort, they like crying, my God, they love tears! Get up! Get off your knees, damn it! Jump around! Whoop and holler! You hear! Shout, Will, sing, but most of all laugh, you got that, laugh!” (Bradbury 154) “In the middle of wild laughter - a sneeze! Jim did the final things himself. His eyes opened He could not believe. Now, returned, no one said, “Hi!” All jigged Sambo-style.” (Bradbury 157) Jim and Will’s friend was shown better than Damon and Pythias because they learned to overcome evil through strong beliefs and happiness. Nightshade and Halloway knew that although they were different, they needed each other. “And they laughed against, when suddenly Will grabbed Jim, held him taught and wept. ‘Hey,’ Jim said, over and over, quietly. ‘Hey hey…’ ‘Jim, Jim,’ Will said, ‘We’ll be pals forever.’ ‘Sure,hey sure.” (Bradbury 158)

Something Wicked This Way Comes and Damon and Pythias displayed wonderful examples of friendship that many wish to have but few actually receive. Will and Jim from Something Wicked This Way Comes survived their test of friendship as they faced the unknown evil in the world. Damon and Pythias went through their test of friendship as one tried to make it on time before the other died. Something Wicked This Way Comes was a better example of friendship in comparison to Damon and Pythias with the use of foil from Bradbury’s creation compared to the foreshadowing Russelled used in Damon and Pythias. Something Wicked This Way Comes and Damon and Pythias truly showed the meaning of friendship and how a friend should be as Damon and Pythias and Will and Jim remained faithful friends as they overcame the obstacle thrown at them.