Something Wicked This Way Comes
Written by: Ray Bradbury
Published by: HarperCollins
Publishers©1962
Mac Smith
Introduction
• Bradbury’s novel takes place in Green Town, Illinois
during the month of October, half of the time in
the town and the other half on it’s outskirts at the
carnival.
• Jim and Will, the novel’s main characters, first
meet an odd lightning rod salesman who gives Jim
a lightning rod to put on his roof. He warns of a
“storm” on the way.
• Jim and Will watch as the train with the carnival on
it pull into town. They notice there is something
very evil about it.
Protagonist(s) vs.
Antagonist(s)
• Jim and Will
• Jim is about the same
size as Will, his hair is
thick and brown. His eyes
are green.
• Will again is similar in size
to Jim, his hair is colored
white-blond and he has
bright clear eyes.
• Mr. Dark and Mr.
Coogar
• Mr. Dark is tall and thin
with black hair, he is
covered in tattoos and
wears a black suit with a
top hat.
• Mr. Coogar is a small but
strong man with red hair
and blue eyes.
Central Conflict
• Jim and Will are the main characters involved in the
story, although his dad does play an important role
too. Mr. Dark is also the main opposing character, Mr.
Coogar does also play a slightly important role.
• Jim and Will discover that an evil carnival has made its
way to their town. Although many in the town,
except for the grown men and Will and Jim, can’t
sense the danger. The two struggle together to get
away from it and try to ultimately destroy its evil.
• Some possible solutions could be destroying the evil in
an unlikely way
Minor Characters
• Jims Mom- she is a single mom who lost all of
her kids except for Jim. Jim’s dad beat her and
ran off, she wants to protect Jim but she knows
he is going to leave her.
• Dust Witch- she is blind but she can see and
hear things others can’t, she is the carnivals main
lookout.
• Mr. Fury- the lightening rod sales man at the
beginning of the book, he is the first casualty of
the carnival, as he was turned into a dwarf.
What the Critics had to
say:
• Something Wicked this Way Comes cuts across genres and has
inspired people from Stephen King to Alice Cooper and everyone
else in between. Bradbury divulges the reader into the day of the
dark circuses arrival to Jim and Wills town. The novel cuts across
genres to display multiple themes of darkness and coming-of-age
tale in charm and in horror. It has much to offer, whether you’re a
teen, young adult, or an old person.Something Wicked This Way
Comes | Bookreporter.com
• Ray Bradbury allows readers to see this carnival of fear through
the eyes of two best friends, Will and Jim, on the edge of
adolescence. Will and Jim add to the compelling themes
celebrated in the novel when their innocence triumphs over evil.
Bradbury does a great job of showing us that we all have a dark
side, and to celebrate rather than to hide from the shadows.
Something Wicked This Way Comes: Ray Bradbury:
9780380729401: Amazon.com: Books
What I thought of the book:
•
I really enjoyed the book and consider it my favorite
out of this one and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I
enjoy horror, action and mystery, and this book had all of
that and then some in it. One thing that I thought Ray
pulled off very well was that he went across the genres so
it really wasn’t just a horror tale. One thing that didn’t
surprise me was that one of my favorite authors, Stephen
King, was inspired by it, because their novels share
common things with one another. I also read the book
because it reminded me of one of my most favorite times
of the year, fall, and the nostalgia I had as a kid growing
up during the all. I strongly recommend this novel to a fan
of horror thinking outside the box when it comes to
content.