something wicked this way comes by ray bradbury
(spoilers ahead for a 60 yr old novel)
i've been reading this novel on and off for months after picking it up from the thriftstore. it simply demanded my full attention. and i took this novel one bite at a time. letting it digest.
the prose of bradbury is evocative, for one, purple, purposeful, semaphoric. it's the type of writing that i envy in how it challenges the imagination. by far one of my favorite novels, even with points docked from outdated caricatures of marginalized groups. it is of the times. but it does not take away its impact and the relatability of its themes.
the novel centers around two young boys, jim and will, their long-time friendship and the dark carnival that comes into town as a disruption to their everyday lives. it opens with a taste of the "supernatural" via a lightning rod salesman that claims to have objects that can protect their homes from storms. the central horror that is the carnival comes not from the otherworldliness of the carnies themselves, but in the way that they feed and remind their patrons of what they fear most; aging, death, regrets.
my central focus, however, is not on will's father teetering his midlife-crisis or fear of death, nor the wicked transformations of the carnies, but on the unspoken horror of reversion. in a society that fears death, the inverse is true, where youth is coveted and the eternal race to elongate it spills into every surface of our cultures. the wrinkle is hidden, the skin made supple with creams and chemicals, scalps padded and glued, the early years romanticized as the best there ever was. time is a promise and the merry-go-round is its apparatus.
despite the shortness of her arc, ms foley's portion was the most horrifying part of the novel for me. similar to many others, she covets her youth, and finds herself swept into the carnival's spell for the promise of a youth that she's long been mourning. she falls for mr dark's seduction. she is turned back.
ms foley is brought back too young.
what age do you think of, when someone asks you how old you want to be again? to relive? 14, 15, 16, 17? 18? early 20s?
old but not too old. the precipice of adulthood. the peak of youth. but what about 7, 8, 9? 10 years old? is that too young? maybe for everyone it is. for ms foley, it is.
those are the ages of a child; big enough to think, but too small to decide.
the carnival uses her now child-like form to disarm the main characters. will realizes who she is from her eyes, the horror dawning on him afterwards when she is no longer there for them to save. as will's father cites, "she is young, but her mind is the same." her eyes are the only proof of what she once was aside from her memories.
in the end, she has become a tool of the carnival. unable to leave, unable to be believed. only able to despair. the sense of control that comes with adulthood is ripped away from her as she is cast into the past. her fate is dependency without a voice to fight back with. the fate of a child.
when we are children, our autonomy is based on what is allowed by the adults around us. to be listened to, to be treated as a person, to be allowed things, is not universal. after all, the crux of the story is dependent on will's father believing the mcs and helping them. and the mcs understand this. jim longs for the authority of adulthood. will grapples with what it means to grow older, but still admires what it can do.
so, the adults around us are an important factor in how we group up. what does this mean for ms foley? where all the people she once knew are too old, too ready to disbelieve, so unfamiliar. where her new handlers are beings that feed on peoples' fears and despair. the narrative does not speak of her fate with optimism. there is no kindness in how she will be treated as a "crazy child" without a family.
the horror of reversion lies in understanding that what has been taken away is more than what you thought could be gained. you are young again, but your body is changing once more. you can hop, skip, and play, but not work, earn, or own. and what has been taken away cannot be brought back. not for years of time and sanity being chipped away at you.
even by the end when the carnival is dismantled, we do not find out ms foley's fate. we know her change is irreversible. we know that she'll have to relive her life all over again. we know she remembers everything. we know that all she did once her wish was granted was cry. we know she will never be the same.
what if you had to live your life all over again? all the lows. all the highs. all the growing pains.
and none of the people familiar to you.