Symbolism In Something Wicked This Way Comes

In the novel: “Something Wicked This Way Comes”, by Ray Bradbury, the character of the Dust Witch is connected to two symbols, one of which is the color black, and the other, being the carnival. The evidence, “Black, wax sewn-shut iguana eyelids”, (Bradbury 223) “Nostrils caked like tobacco-blackened pipe bowls”, (223) and, “Illustration of a black-nun blind woman” (241) all show the Dust Witch as being connected to the color black. The author establishes these three connections differently. In page 223, Bradbury uses the color black to describe feature of the Witch such as her nose and her sewn-shut eyelids, as the Will and Jim get a close look at her before she takes away their senses. In page 241, however, the author uses black to show an illustration, or tattoo of what the Dust Witch used to look like, a blind nun, clothed in black. Bradbury did this to show that the Dust Witch, and her previous form, were always

Electrico alive while all of the freaks, including herself, are at the carnival. The Author does this to convey the idea that the carnival is the Home of the Dust Witch; it is her lair, where she is most powerful and dangerous. Secondly, in page 114, Bradbury uses the words said by the Dust Witch when she keeps Mr. Cooger/Electrico alive through electricity after he got deathly old on the carousel. The author does this to show that the Dust Witch has some kind of connection to not only the carnival, but also the freaks who operate, perform, and are also connected to the carnival. Lastly, in page 241, the author describes the final act of the carnival: the bullet catching trick, and how the Dust Witch is being forced to perform the trick. Bradbury does this to show that even though the Witch is a being of great power, she, like all of the freaks at the carnival, must succumb to the orders of it’s ringmaster, and perform in carnavalistic, yet evil