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
Jim sits in his room, library books strewn about, not reading. His eyes are as “dark as twilight,” and the dark circles under his eyes have been there since he nearly died at the age of three, and he “still remembers.” Jim never looked away from the world, “and when you never look away all your life, by the time you are thirteen you have done twenty years taking in the laundry of the world.” The door opens. “Jim? You awake?” Jim’s mother asks.
Jim’s dark eyes are an outward reflection of his inner turmoil. His entire life has been shrouded by death—he nearly died as a child, both his siblings have died, and it is implied his father is dead too—and this is the twenty years’ worth of “laundry” that Jim has taken in during his short, but tragic, life.
Themes
As Jim’s mother enters the room, she warns Jim against keeping his window open and catching cold. “Sure,” he remarks. “Don’t say ‘sure’ that way. You don’t know until you’ve had three children and lost all but one,” his mother replies. Jim tells his mother that he is not having any kids. “No use making more people,” he says. “People die.” He asks his mother if she can remember his father’s face. “Do I look like him?” he asks. “The day you go away is the day he leaves forever,” she answers.
Jim’s comment that people only die reflects his tragic history, but it also explains his fear of abandonment. Jim later begs Will not to ever leave him, and this fear is seemingly rooted in the death of his father and siblings. In his experience, people are taken away from him, and he wants to hold fast to Will, who makes him feel safe and protected from evil.
Themes
Jim’s mother tells Jim that he should raise a big family when he grows up, that way they can all come visit her. “I’m never going to own anything that can hurt me,” Jim tells her. “You going to collect rocks, Jim?” she asks as she walks out of the room. “Storm,” Jim thinks, “you there?” He can feel it coming. He considers climbing to the roof and taking down the lightning rod. “And then see what happens!” Jim thinks.
Jim expects to be hurt, and therefore he holds most people at arm’s length. If Jim never has children and avoids other close relationships, he avoids the pain that will come when they inevitably leave or die. Jim’s thoughts about taking down the lightning rod again reflect his internal struggle of good and evil. He knows it is best to leave it up, but he still is curious to see what will happen if he takes it down.
Themes
