Something Wicked This Way Comes

In Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, Jim and Will are

portrayed as characters with few similarities: being extremely close in age, and living

next door to each other being the two main parallels. Will is born only minutes before

his counterpart, but he is born in the closing minutes of All Saints Day, October 30, and

Jim in the initial minutes of Halloween. As for these two days that the boys are born, the

former seems to represent righteousness and innocence, while the connotations that

belong to Halloween are evil and depressing; two consecutive holidays, yet completely

opposite implications. The fact that Jim and Will are born within minutes of each other

draws them closer, but like the difference between the two holidays they exemplify, the

situation still has them separated. The relationship that Jim and Will possess consists of

interdependent opposites, and their interactions between each other develop a unity that

consistently brings the two companions closer together.

	Jim and Will’s relationship is connected through opposites that go perfectly

together. While this may seem like a paradox, it is proved time and again throughout the

novel. "...Jim running slower to stay with Will, Will running faster to stay with Jim"(18).

This comes towards the beginning when the two are sprinting home, one running slower

than his normal pace and the other faster. Obviously running faster is an op...