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Chapter 36
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Something Wicked This Way Comes, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Good vs. Evil
Age, Time, and Acceptance
Love and Happiness
Fear, the Supernatural, and the Unknown
Summary
Analysis
At seven o’clock, Charles waits in the library for Will and Jim. It has been the “longest day of all the days he can remember.” He spent the day at the carnival, walking around and avoiding the rides and attractions, and now he stares at the “great literary clock” he has arranged on the table. He has placed several books on the table in the shape of a clockface. At twelve o’clock is a copy of Dr. Faustus, and at six sits a history of circuses. At nine is a book on demons, and several other texts about the occult are positioned on the makeshift clock. Still, the carnival is a mystery. “By the pricking of my thumbs,” Charles thinks. “Something wicked this way comes.”
Each book on Charles’s “great literary clock” represents an attempt to overcome evil and commit to good, much like the individual ticks of a clock being another chance to renounce evil and embrace good. This is the second time that Bradbury mentions Dr. Faustus, which sits at the top of the clock, indicating its importance and connection to the story. Like the title character of Marlowe’s story, if Jim or Will ride the carousel, they will effectively be making a pact with the devil. This passage also references the quote that gives the novel its title: words spoken by the witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Themes
