Something Wicked This Way Comes
In Ray Bradbury's novel Something Wicked This Way Comes, the two protagonists, boys, both nearly fourteen years old, go by the names of Will and Jim. They live in a small town, next door to each other. Often, they are thought to be complete opposites, but if the reader looks closely, they can see similarities existing within the differences. Though Will and Jim have differences, which Bradbury shows in part by the way that other characters perceive them and how daring they each are, the boys also share similarities, such as their origins and mutual fear of the carnival people. Primarily, Bradbury displays the differences between Will and Jim through Charles Halloway's opinions about the boys and Jim's recklessness and Will's prudence. Charles Halloway, Will's father, has distinct opinions about the boys' personalities. Charles, alone in the library, thinks about the two boys, "That's Jim, all bramble hair and itchweed. And Will? Why he's the last peach, high on a summer tree" (14). This passage portrays the boys as two very different characters. Charles compares Jim to "bramble hair and itchweed," showing that those who know Jim best
Moreover, the similarities between Jim and Will include, among other things, their similar origins and mutual dread of the carnival people. Will and Jim both feel a lot of pride because they share such similar backgrounds. When the lightening-rod salesman first meets the two friends, he can tell, "by their voices, [that] the boys had told the tale all their lives, proud of their mothers, living house next to house, running for the hospital together, bringing sons into the world seconds apart..." (6). The two boys are conceived, born and grow up as near to each other as two boys can and therefore, their backgrounds are very much the same. Their similar beginnings are significant in accentuating their differences. Their origins help the reader to ponder how two characters with such similar backgrounds could be so different. Another attribute that the boys share is their fear of the carnival people. Towards the middle of the novel, Charles, Will, and Jim sit in the library late at night, discussing how they can force the carnival to leave town, when Mr. Dark, the owner of the carnival, walks in, " 'Someone's inside.' The boys half rose,
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Approximate Word count = 773
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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