Something Evil This Way Comes, Thesis Paper Example

Introduction

Something Evil This Way Comes is a descriptive comparison of good and evil and how the forces of both influence human characters to make choices that essentially form a person’s life and define their character, morals and character by which one is judged. Two thirteen year old boys Jim Nightshade and William Halloway are privy to a nightmarish experience that comes to their town which shapes their life to a point that they live out these outlandish fantasies which eventually leads William’s father, Charles Halloway to want to live out his childhood fantasies. The novel is further a mixture of horrid fantasies with good an evil that unfold at the carnival. This novel is different from Bradbury’s previous works because he has written mostly short stores prior. This is a long drawn out full length novel.

The novel is based on the premise of reincarnation and forever life with a dazzle of transition from childhood fantasy to adulthood. As the novel opens the two teenagers encounter a traveling lightning rod salesman that makes claim that a terrible storm is brewing. William’s father is constantly stating he misses being a child throughout the novel. There is fresh smells of cotton candy and the townspeople have keen senses of the smells in the air as wells as the bad weather. The two teenagers are quite happy there is a carnival coming to the town late in the year but William’s father, Charles is very skeptical about the coming of the carnival. The boys arrive at the carnival early and learn that some of the rides are broken. They attend the carnival again the next day and to their amazement they learn that Mr. Cooger can ride the carousel that plays strange music backward. The music also plays backward. The strangest thing about the ride is that when Mr. Cooger stepped off the carousel he turned into a twelve year old boy. William’s father reminded the two boys that he did not like the idea of the carnival coming to town. Mr. Cooger rides the carousel a second time and begins to age dramatically to about a hundred years old as the carousel spins frantically out of control. As the boys beckon the police Mr. Cooger completely disappears from the carousel and the entire carnival. The boys do not tell their father about the second incident because they are afraid he will not let them return to the carnival. Their father is a smart and wary man and he decides to inspect the situation himself. He goes to the Mirror Maze, kills the witch and finds his son and the other boy. It is through singing, dancing and pure love that the boys and the rest of the crew are saved by the evil wrath of the carnival’s evilness.  Mr. Cooger, Charles Halloway, Mr. Dark, Jim Nightshade, Miss Foley, Tom Fury were all privy to the evilness of The Skeleton and The Dust Witch.

The irony of the story is that the plot is set around Halloween and the setting is eerie because it is set in a very small town that is known for low temperament. William’s father, Charles already has the mindset that is fearful and introverted which adds mystery to the plot. The boys are curious by nature of their age which adds even more mystery to the novel. The fact that the novel is set in a small town in rural Illinois gives poise to the entire idea of a great mystery for age regression and out of control strangeness because those neck of the wood such as Illinois and Virginia are classically known in movies and books for strange happenings. The previous year was long and dark which set the stage or gave rise for a strange happening at the carnival. The idea the carnival was in town for an extra time was strange in itself.

Concept of Power and Belief

Power and belief of the mind is dependent upon how you choose to view this dependency. What this essentially means is the more power you give someone determines how you will allow your mind to be controlled by that person. The boys allowed themselves to be controlled by the forces of evil initially but then realized they had the power to control the forces of evil simply by changing their way of thinking. The father, Charles Halloway was initially very sinister with the depiction of death but later learned that he could conquer this sinister force that controlled his force by simply destroying the Mirror Maze. The Mirror Maze actually magnified this fear that Charles had and it was not until he destroyed this physical being that he was able to rid this fear that controlled his mind and essentially his thought and his actions in life.

What about Life?

Miss Foley was focus on her self-centered desires whilst losing her rightful place in society as a whole. She had no true acceptance of herself thus was existing and not living. She was not able to accept the simple blessing that were given to her on a silver platter in life and was always trying to attain something that was not in store for her through way of blessing of the Holy Lord. This was a classic depiction of outside forces that attempted to trample small town and take over the mentality of the small town people and their views. Stephen King’s Needful Things takes the plot from this novel when Mr. Dark is transposed into Leland Gaunt in the antique store.

Comparison to the Bible

The novel has been compared to verses in the bible such as 1 Peter 5:8 where “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Good and evil has always been classic comparison in the Bible since the beginning of Adam and Eve when Eve was tempted to bite on the apple.

Strange Behaviors

The lightning rod salesman was strange in itself much less there was a variety of Egyptian, Arabic and other writings in the carnival which was of abnormal nature for a rural hometown community based carnival. When the boys run into the Indian at the corner store and his mouth freezes in awe this gives rise to future strange happenings because the Native Americans are known for being one with nature and interpreting the lessons that nature has to offer. If one pays close attention to the signs and signals of this novel he/she can tell there is a prelude to strange occurrences to come. Most of the signs and signals are of natural basis. This particular carnival did not arrive in the evening like previous traditional carnivals for it arrived as sunrise. This was an accent to strange occurrences to come. There was nothing of normal value with this carnival. A most beautiful woman was frozen solid in the middle of the town street at midnight.

Jim wants more than anything to grow up very fast and is somewhat defiant and wants to make choices on his own. He feels being close to fourteen and feels though he is a young man. The novel focuses on the growth of maturation and nostalgic dark fantasies of childhood and adulthood fantasies brought from childhood. Part of the story is told in the narrator’s point of view which gives it a more realistic and personal point of view. The rest of the story is told from Will’s point of view. Part of Chapter 9 is told in Jim’s point of view. Jim’s observations are based primarily on those of Mr. Halloway and Will.

Mr. Dark was extensively inspected or investigated in the novel as being evil and creepy. The importance of the lightning rod was that it was sketched with strange languages that were known only to the lighting rod salesman. The novels are well-drawn with depiction of real-time, eccentric and fiction. There is much analogy and thought put into the characters as well as the plot to form a picture perfect story that can be thought of as a possible reality in a small town setting if one stretches his/her imagination. Even Miss Foley has a reflection of being afraid of numerous mirrors and what they reflect.

Conclusion

The forces of evil came to the small town in Illinois whether by chance or by fate and William’s father used his senses to spot the evil that lurked in the carnival’s walls. Whether the evil was real or imagined because of an innate fear, Charles conquered the fear by stepping up to the plate and destroying the force that took power over his physical and mental sense. After he made that stance it was then that the fear no longer had the total power over him. The boys learned that they too could learn to deal with fears and still stay in their childhood at the same time. Miss Foley learned to stay real with herself and not look to outside sources for happiness. The novel was a classic depiction of the forces of mind control and how one can allow such forces to overcome them. Also, the novel depicts the strength the human mind can play in overcoming fears. Evil is very real as depicted in the Bible and should not be taken lightly. The Devil is very real. It is not to say we should simply toss aside a feeling or instinct that creates an inner fear, yet we should examine it and deal with it appropriately.