Something Wicked This Way Comes
Ray Bradbury (1962)
“A traveling carnival offers you everything you ever wanted — your youth back, your secret desires fulfilled — and it only costs your soul.”
Character Analysis
Born one minute before midnight on October 30th — just barely on the safe side of Halloween. Will is the cautious, empathetic, reflective half of the novel's central pair. He is drawn to the library, to his father, to the familiar. His instinct when confronted with the carnival is to flee and warn; Jim's is to approach and explore. Will represents the part of adolescence that recognizes danger and chooses preservation over curiosity. He is not timid — he sabotages the carousel, hides from Mr. Dark, and ultimately helps revive Jim through sheer force of joyful will. But his courage is always in service of love, never of appetite.
Simple, direct, earnest. Will speaks in short sentences and asks questions rather than making declarations.