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Laughter In Ray Bradbury's 'Something Wicked This Way Comes'

577 Words3 Pages

Laughter as a Universal Force Mark Twain, American author, once said, “The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter” (Twain). Twain is referring to a weapon as fighting repression, meaning that laughter will save humanity from being unhappy due to one’s own mindset, which is applicable to everyone. In Ray Bradbury’s novel Something Wicked This Way Comes, two boys, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade explore the mysterious realm of the carnival, which is like nothing they have ever seen before. With the help of Will’s father, Charles Halloway, they conquer their fears with theme of laughter. In Mikhail Bakhtin’s chapter, “Rabelais in the History of Laughter” from his book Rabelais and His World, he further goes into depth on the many uses for laughter to free people of fear and repression. Although Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes describes a homogenous society of middle-class, white characters, the theme of laughter applies to political and social issues as they free the characters from repression, guilt and intimidation. Bradbury’s depiction of laughter creates freedom in …show more content…

Laughter has the power to unite people, as Bakhtin writes, “Laughter liberates not only from external censorship but first of all from the great interior censor” (Bakhtin 94). Laughter acts as a powerful force that alleviates pain by destroying repression and turning fear into grotesque ridiculousness while also uniting people to see the positives in negative situations. Moreover, it applies to social and political issues as a satire of political figures, which acts as a weapon against the government. For example, many people use satire to alleviate the fear and anger that Donald Trump is the current US President by ridiculing and criticizing his ideas and mindset. Thus, laughter liberate us by freeing us from

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Figurative Language In Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes

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Imagine a town infested with a mysterious carnival, where it up to two boys to solve the secrets it holds. This is the reality for Green Town, Illinois and for Will and Jim. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury takes place in a small Illinois town in late October. When a carnival rolls into town late at night the two boys are drawn to it, but they don’t know what it is truly capable of. In the novel, Ray Bradbury, uses figurative language to create a mysterious mood about the carnival.

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Archetype In Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes

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In “Something Wicked This way Comes”, Ray Bradbury uses the archetype of the unhealable wound to develop Jim’s character. Jim’s unhealable wound is that he wants to die. In chapter 9, his mother asks him if he will ever have kids and his response is that there is no use in “making more people”(9:19) because “people die”(9:19), and later in that same chapter, he thinks about climbing up and taking the lightning rod down. Since the lightning rod is meant to protect him, he must have a morbid death wish. Later in the chapter, it gives a reason as to why he might have this death wish because it says that Jim’s mother has a face “that had been hit a long time ago.

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In “Something Wicked This Way Comes” by Ray Bradbury, Jim Nightshade does have some verbal and dramatic irony associated with him. In the quotes, “You look familiar… Like an uncle of mine,” (Bradbury 85 & 86) “Darn Baptist preacher, you,” (30) and, “Storm’s coming. Don’t wait Jim boy,” (10) show how Jim uses irony and how others use irony to foreshadow the danger targeted at him. The author shows how Jim uses irony to lie to Mr. Cooger and crack jokes about how Will is and how Jim will be defenseless from the carnival. Bradbury does this because it shows the sentimental bond between Jim and Will, how Jim is deceitful, and also how Jim is inferior to the power of the carnival itself.

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825 Words | 4 Pages

A complicated relationship between a father and son can be very frustrating for both people. The complications, however, generally dissolve or resolve themselves over time. In the novel Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, the main character, Will Halloway, and his father, Charles Halloway, share a troublesome relationship. The complications come from when Will tries to protect Charles from dangers and when Charles doesn’t believe he is a good father to Will. As the story progresses, the relationship changes from where it was at the beginning to the middle, from the middle to the end.

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