Something Wicked This Way Comes

""I'm not going to murder you, Jed, Mr. Dark, whoever, whatever you are. You're going to murder yourself because you can't stand being near people like me, not this close, close, not this long."

"Evil!" groaned the boy, writhing, "You're evil!"

"Evil?" Will's father laughed, which made the boy, wasp-stung and brambled by the sound, jerk all the more violently.

"Evil?" The man's hands were flypaper fastened to the small bones.

"Strange hearing from you, Jed. So it must seem. Good to evil seems evil. So I will do only good to you, Jed, I will simply hold you and watch you poison yourself. I will do good to you, Jed,  Mr. Dark, Mr. Proprietor, boy, until you tell what's wrong with Jim. Wake him up. Let him free. Give him life!""

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Ray Bradbury

There is so much to write about Bradbury -- this small space simply cannot do his life and work justice. A few facts; Bradbury was born in 1920, learned to read the comics by the time he was four, received his first typewriter in 1932 at about the same time he met his first magician -- that was the moment he decided to write.

Bradbury wrote more than 400 short stories, 50 books, as well as poems, essays, plays, operas, and screenplays. In honor of Halloween, Bradbury's favorite holiday, check out 13 Things You Didn't Know About Ray Bradbury at the Ray Bradbury Centennial site.

Synopsis

Two best friends, William Halloway and Jim Nightshade have lived next door to each other in Green Town, Illinois their whole lives. In fact they were born moments apart -- just as the date turns from October 30th to the 31st.  A week before their 14th birthdays, a mysterious traveling carnival owned by Mr. Dark comes to town. The Dark and the carnival offer the means to grant secret desires, but unsuspecting folks end up paying a steep price.

Charles Halloway, Will's father, rescues the boys from Mr. Dark, destroying the carnival and it's malevolent denizens.

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World Relevance

Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) is a fantastical horror story, as well as an allegory for the battle between good and evil in all of us. As a coming of age story, the story insists purity of heart is the best protection for the transition from childhood to adulthood.

The title is taken from Act IV, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's Macbeth where one of the witches cries before Macbeth's arrival,

"By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open locks, whoever knocks."

Learning Connections

Traveling Carnivals

• The Origins of the American Traveling Carnival, South End Historical Society
• The History of Traveling Shows in America is Rich and Colorful, International Independent Showmen's Museum

Railroads

• US Railroad History - A Timeline, American Rails
  
• American Railroad History with the Carnival and Circus, Doc's Midway Cookhouse
• Lives on the Railroad, National Museum of American History
  

Ages: Young adult novel, 337 pages. A malevolent carnival owner, Mr. Dark, offers to grant secret wishes but unsuspecting townsfolk end up paying a steep price.

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