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Chapter 52
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
As Charles stands over Jed’s dead body, the freaks begin to come out of the tents. The tattoos on the boy’s body begin to “shift” and “shrivel” as “scores of freaks glance fearfully around.” Suddenly, the tattoos begin to vanish, and Jed appears as a “plain dead boy, unbruised by pictures,” staring up at Charles with the “empty eyes” of Mr. Dark.
Once again, riding the carousel does not change Mr. Dark’s soul—or his eyes. Mr. Dark’s tattoos disappear from his body, suggesting that the freaks are released from their bondage upon his death.
Themes
The freaks let loose a collective sigh, and “stampede” in every direction, free at last. The tents each fall to the ground, and the living Skeleton, the only remaining freak, lifts Jed from the ground and walks away. Charles looks to Will, still attempting to revive Jim. Jim is “cold as spaded earth.”
The freaks sigh and run off because they are finally free of Mr. Dark’s evil powers, but the books doesn’t say what will become of them next—their lives have been taken away entirely by one bad choice.
Themes
