Something Wicked This Way Comes… By Ray Bradbury Denson’s introduction to Plot, Character, Setting, Theme, and How to Analyze fiction like a grown-up. (Ms. Blue’s edited additions)

Standards We’re Going to Cover: LS1.9: Interpret the ways in which visual images communicate information. R1.2: Understand the history of English language, use word origins to determine word meaning. R3.2: Identify plot points, plot stages, foreshadowing & flashback. Know the main conflict and minor complications (subplots). Know the differences between internal and external conflicts. R3.3:Compare and contrast the motivations and reactions of different literary characters. R3.4: Analyze how the setting relates to the mood, tone, and meaning. R3.5: Identify and analyze reoccurring themes. R3.6: Identify literary devices (metaphor, simile, symbolism) that make up a writer’s style. Use to interpret.

Exposition: We’re introduced to… Main Characters: Will Holloway: Jim Nightshade: Mr. Holloway (Charles): Narrator, is 12. Grows up to be a writer. Blonde, has glasses. Wishes and dreams: Will’s best friend. Born on the same night just a little before. Black haired. Why does he buy the lightening rod? Symbolism: What does his name mean? Hopes and dreams: Will’s dad. Librarian of the town. Feels old. IS old. What are his hopes and dreams?

Leave this spot blank…fill it in as you see more about Mr. Dark The barber. Big guy. Fascinated with ladies. Foreshadowing: He thinks he can hear rustling petticoats and he can smell perfume. What does he want? Tobaccoist. Is obsessed with money and winning the lottery. “Havana specials rolled on the smooth plump thighs of Cuban beauties” What does he want? Mr. Dark: Minor Characters: Mr. Cozetti: Mr. Tetley:

Ed the Barman: Ms. Foley: Tom Fury: Dust-witch: Owns the bar. Used to play football. Lost arm and leg recently. What does he want? The school teacher. Seems to hate kids. The townspeople say that she used to be very beautiful. What do you think she really wants? Sells lightening rods. Magician? Claims that he can “smell-out” which houses need his help. He can sense storms. Who does he sell a rod to? What is with that red ring?

Setting: Where and When? Green Town, Illinois The Fall, October: Early 1900s: The Carnival: *Pandemonium: (vocab) Small town. Isolated from other towns. How does this seem scary? Why is this the time of year Ray Bradbury set the story? The cars aren’t modern. Not very advanced roads. The clothes. Ed’s arm and leg=WWI Arrives late at night…not good advertising. Train screams! Is set up instantly. No one is on the train or wandering around the carnival. Comes from Dante’s Inferno. Was the name he gave “ to the capital of Hell”. Means “Demon Party”

The Body: aka Rising Action The boys go to see the train come into town. Dust-witch encounter: Mr. Holloway tries to talk to Will: Soul’s Midnight: Tone and Mood: It arrives at night, and the boys watch it from a grave yard. Both the boys and Mr. Holloway encounter her presence that night. There is a lot of regret in Mr. H concerning something at Indigo Creek. What is this? 3 am. When most people die. How is this a reoccurring theme?

Body: (continued) Ed the Barman: Ms. Foley: Mr. Cossetti: Mr. Tetley: He wins a strength game. Gets a ticket to the mirror maze. What does it show? She has seen something in there. Why does she leave? The Dust Witch reads his palm. Does she know too much? Where does she send him? Irony: who ends up naked? Wins the lottery. What does he get with the money? The cigar line: is it flashback ( reference to something that has already happened)? A warning? Ed the Barman: Ms. Foley: Mr. Cossetti: Mr. Tetley:

Body: (cont.) The boys meet Mr. Dark: The boys decide that they’ll stay after dark. Mr. Cougar: They try to warn Ms. Foley: Characterization: Review what makes Mr. Dark so evil. Motivation: If he’s evil, why does he give the boys something? Complication: The boys know a Dark secret. What plot points does this knowledge lead to? What complications arises because of this plot point? Cougar frames them…

Body: (cont.) a.k.a. Rising Action Will Is forced to have the conversation with his father: The boys go back to the Carnival: Subplot: What happened at Indigo Creek? Character Motivation: How do you think this has affected Mr. Holloway? Foreshadowing(clue to something later in the story): Who saved Will? (Trust me, This will be important later) Why does Jim go back? What do they see when they go back? Complication: Dark knows that they know his secret. How does this lead to the next action?

Body: Continued… The Fog: The parade: Mr. Dark and Mr. Holloway meet for the first time. Brings a pile of spiders…Dream or Real? Characterization: who’s the brave one? What makes them go away? Will knows it is a search. What does the parade have that is sinister? Mr. Holloway tries to lie to him. Bradbury theme: “You can learn more from other men’s dreams than your own.”

Body: aka Rising Action (continued) In the Library: The “Autumn People”: Mr. Holloway can identify Mr. Dark and his cohorts: How? How does this reflect Bradbury’s theme of “books can save you”? What do the “autumn people” do? Who are they compared to? What makes them disappear? How does this relate to a theme throughout the film?

The Body: (cont.) The boys hide. Mr. H tries to take him on. Knowing the name: this is a repeated theme throughout literature. You can’t cast the “demon” out if you don’t know the name. Knowing what they are about also helps. With what? Metaphor/symbolism: what do the pages of the diary represent? Why would the author/director use a diary to represent this? The arrival of Mr. Dark: Dark tempts Mr. Holloway:

Still part of the body, but… This is the Crisis!!!! What happens to Mr. Holloway? Is there any triumph in his defeat? What does he tempt Jim with? How does he taunt Will? What does she do to the boys? What does the ring represent when she deals with Mr. Holloway? Because the boys will either be lost or saved. Mr. Holloway can not beat Mr. Dark Physically: Dark goes after the boys: The Dust-Witch: Why is this the Crisis?

The body…still: I told you the body (rising action) was big! Dark takes the boys to the carnival: Mr. Holloway takes on Dark: Why did the author or director put in the scene where Mr. Dark turns off the barber light? Symbolism/metaphor: The light represents “hope” for the town. When he takes the boys, he is taking the last hope for the town away. The boys know how to stop him, but they can’t help anyone now. How does Holloway get into the mirror maze? Who does this save? What does Holloway have to confront in order to save Will?

THE CLIMAX!!! Phew, finally! Mr. Holloway is about to “drown” in his regret over the flashback at Indigo Creek and his age. Will screams, “I love you!” Mr. Holloway breaks through the mirror to save both Wills (the one in the water and the one whose trapped in glass).

The Resolution (falling action): Ah, happily ever after! The breaking of the glass frees Tom Fury, who harpoons the Dust Witch. Will and Mr. H go to help Jim and pull him off the Merry-go-round. Mr. Dark is trapped on the merry-go-round, as the storm and lightening roll in. The towns people are freed. (don’t ask me about the horses.) Mr. Holloway has balanced out the universal-karma. He saved Jim which repays Mr. Nightshade…wherever he is.