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Mr. Dark / The Illustrated Man / Jed
Mr. Dark’s partner and one of the proprietors of Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show. Mr. Cooger is first introduced as a forty-year-old man, but after riding the carnival’s carousel backward, he is transformed into a twelve-year-old boy. Mr. Cooger poses as Robert, Miss Foley’s nephew from Wisconsin, but she senses from the beginning that he is an imposter and “doesn’t belong,” though she can’t quite articulate why. When Robert attempts to ride the carousel to change back into Mr. Cooger, Will and Jim accidentally knock the carousel’s control box and send the ride forward uncontrollably, and Mr. Cooger is transformed into a decrepit old man well over a hundred years old. As an old man, Mr. Cooger becomes Mr. Electrico, one of the attractions in Mr. Dark’s freakshow, who is sparked back to life with one hundred thousand volts via an Electric Chair. Mr. Electrico turns to dust and blows away after the freaks drop him en route to the carousel.
Mr. Cooger / Robert / Mr. Electrico Quotes in Something Wicked This Way Comes
The Something Wicked This Way Comes quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Cooger / Robert / Mr. Electrico or refer to Mr. Cooger / Robert / Mr. Electrico. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 22 Quotes
Will grabbed Jim’s shirt front, felt his heart bang under the chest bones. “Jim—”
“Let go.” Jim was terribly quiet. “If he knows you’re here, he won’t come out. Willy, if you don’t let go, I’ll remember when—”
“When what!”
“When I’m older, darn it, older!”
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Chapter 23 Quotes
Will saw the evil boy, a year older still, glide around into the night. Five or six more times around and he’d be bigger than the two of them!
“Jim, he’ll kill us!”
“Not me, no!”
Will felt a sting of electricity. He yelled, pulled back, hit the switch handle. The control box spat. Lightning jumped to the sky, Jim and Will, flung by the blast, lay watching the merry-go-round run wild.
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Mr. Cooger / Robert / Mr. Electrico Character Timeline in Something Wicked This Way Comes
The timeline below shows where the character Mr. Cooger / Robert / Mr. Electrico appears in Something Wicked This Way Comes. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7
...can’t be,” Will says, carnivals never come after Labor Day. Jim continues reading, excitedly. “ MR. ELECTRICO !” he reads. “THE ILLUSTRATED MAN! Hey!” Jim yells. “That’s just an old guy with...
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Chapter 15
...sea of people, Will and Jim see Miss Foley, their seventh-grade teacher. Miss Foley’s nephew, Robert, is visiting from Wisconsin and he had run off to the carnival early that morning....
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Miss Foley walks toward the Mirror Maze, searching for Robert. “No,” says Will. “No Mirror Maze.” Miss Foley asks why, and Will replies, “People get...
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Chapter 18
...that quickly turns blue and then red. Mr. Dark introduces the other man as Mr. Cooger: they are the proprietors of the carnival. Mr. Dark rolls up his sleeves and Jim...
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...and Will run from the carousel and quickly climb a tree, secretly watching Dark and Cooger mill about the ride. Mr. Dark goes to the control box, looks around, “glares into...
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Chapter 19
As Jim and Will chase a twelve-year-old Mr. Cooger down the street, they can’t believe what they have just witnessed. “Twenty-eight!” yells Jim. “Twenty-eight...
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...old, six or sixty! Boy’s face, sure, but the eyes were the eyes of Mr. Cooger!” As the boys approach the house the front door opens and Miss Foley steps out....
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Robert steps out of the house. “We got to tell you a terrible thing,” Will blurts...
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Jim shakes Robert’s hand and finds himself staring into Mr. Cooger’s eyes. “I’m taking Aunt Willa to the...
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Chapter 22
...punches Jim in the face. As Will and Jim fight, the front door opens and Robert steps out. He looks down at Will and Jim, smiles, and runs back inside. He...
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Chapter 23
Robert runs down the street with Will and Jim close behind. Will knows that Jim won’t...
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...control box. Lightning pierces the sky and merry-go-round begins moving faster. Will sees the evil Robert fly by, “cursing” and “spitting” at them.
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...electricity fly from the control box of the carousel and Jim and Will watch as Robert continues to zip by, aging with each turn. Lights flicker in the carnival tents and...
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Chapter 24
...Jim says. “We didn’t mean to do it!” When they arrive at the carousel, Mr. Cooger is nowhere to be found. “He was here, we swear!” cries Jim. He starts yelling...
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...sitting in the electric chair. “Who’s he?” they ask. Mr. Dark explains that it is Mr. Electrico , the new act. “One hundred thousand volts will now burn Mr. Electrico’s body!” claims...
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“…welcome…mmmmmm…” Mr. Electrico stammers. “I…sssaw…the…boysssss…ssssneak into…thee…tent…tttttt…” he begins. He goes on to tell the police that he had...
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Chapter 25
...Will, Jim, “and…the nephew.” She stops. “Strange,” she thinks. “Why not say my nephew?” Since Robert’s arrival, she hasn’t been able to shake the feeling the that “he didn’t belong, his...
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Chapter 26
...Dwarf resembling Mr. Fury. “If only there was still some way to apologize to Mr. Cooger—” Jim says. Will can’t believe his ears. “You still don’t see we can’t do business...
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...“You saw their faces?” Will’s father asks. Miss Foley confirms, but she neglects to mention Robert. She doesn’t want to press charges, she says, but if they aren’t guilty, where are...
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Chapter 38
Charles then shows Will and Jim a series of old newspaper advertisements for Cooger and Dark’s carnival. The first is dated October 12, 1888, and he has found two...
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Chapter 45
...they march. “You’ll travel with us, Jim,” he says. Mr. Dark isn’t sure that Mr. Cooger will survive, and if he should die, he will make Jim his new partner. Afterall,...
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Chapter 51
...is playing forward or backward. Running in the direction of the carousel Will stops. “ Mr. Electrico !” he thinks. “Kill or cure!” Will looks to the surrounding tents and sees the...
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...The chair sits on an angle, empty. “But,” says Will. “Where’s Mr. Electrico? I mean…Mr. Cooger!?” Charles looks down to the dust. “That must have been him?” he questions.
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