Something Wicked This Way Comes

Will wonders: “Did friends last forever, then? For eternity, could they be counted to a warm, round, and handsome sum?” (237). What does the novel foreshadow will happen with Will and Jim’s friendship in the future? How have their actions changed their dynamic?

Does Bradbury evoke sympathy for the sideshow performers in the novel? Does the novel suggest that they deserve their fate? Cite examples from the text.

Is the carnival responsible for tempting Miss Foley or Jim to act on their desires, or does Bradbury suggest that the characters bear individual responsibility? Cite examples from the text to support your argument.

Look at the novel’s structure. What is the significance of each part? How do the three parts come together to convey the novel’s themes? Why does Bradbury partition it this way?

How does the carnival create fear and suspense, and what does it highlight about human nature? What are some specific examples of the carnival trope from other novels, and how do these novels use it differently?

Things often happen at the perfect moment in the story. For example, Charles stumbles upon Will and Jim under the grate, and the boys’ moms walk by the library after Mr. Dark threatens them. Find more moments of “coincidence.” What do these moments illustrate about fate and/or the supernatural? How do they challenge the reader’s suspension of disbelief, where they forget that they are reading a work of fiction?

Bradbury uses figurative language. Choose three scenes and discuss how he uses things like repetition, simile, and metaphor to create an effect.

How would the story change if it were told from Will or Jim’s point of view? What about Charles’s? How would each point of view change the story’s exploration of good and evil?