When Drew Erikson stops his car in front of a small white house and a nearby wheat field, his prayers and those of his destitute family seem answered. Erikson enters the house in search of food and finds an old man dressed in funeral clothes and lying dead upon his […]
Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Scythe””Summary and Analysis: The October Country Jack-in-the-Box””
“Jack-in-the-Box” is unique to The October Country because of its sheer fantasy element. Here Bradbury creates an entire fantasy world, a Universe so unique and separate from the real world that Edwin can adapt to it yet is totally unable to function normally when he faces reality. Throughout the story, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country Jack-in-the-Box””Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Crowd””
Another of Bradbury’s “dark” stories about humanity, “The Crowd” has as its focal point the psychological truth that all people are attracted to and even thrive upon the pain and the problems of their fellow humans. Perhaps this story was triggered when Bradbury was writing Something Wicked This Way Comes […]
Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Crowd””Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Small Assassin””
One night when the baby will not stop crying, David goes downstairs for the baby’s bottle. In the dark, he trips on the baby’s doll and nearly plunges headfirst down the stairs. Luckily, he grabs the banister. Alice, however, is not so fortunate, because David discovers her the following day […]
Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Small Assassin””Summary and Analysis: The October Country Touched with Fire””
A commentator on life and humanity’s customs, Bradbury has made observations which have led him to put an accurate finger on certain evils that are at work in the world. Fire is the image that he often utilizes to depict the purification or destruction of these evils. His earliest story […]
Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country Touched with Fire””Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Emissary””
Once, when Bradbury was a boy, he showed extreme despair after a particularly exciting Halloween party because he feared he might die before another Halloween came. His brother told him not to worry about missing Halloween because if he died, he would then be Halloween. “The Emissary” blends both Halloween […]
Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Emissary””Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Lake””
The story then moves forward; Harold is twenty-two and is married. He and his wife, Margaret, have taken a honeymoon trip back to his hometown. While standing on the shore of the lake, he sees a lifeguard step out of a boat with a body in his arms. Although it […]
Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Lake””Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Jar””
As one of the finest examples of Bradbury’s macabre writing, “The Jar” sets the tone for the many so-called carnival stories that were to follow. In these stories, carnival imagery is the major source for Bradbury’s discussion of the presence of evil as a threatening force in the world. “The […]
Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Jar””Summary and Analysis: The October Country Skeleton””
Bradbury is a staunch believer in the kind of story that can be emotionally experienced, and “Skeleton” is precisely this kind of story. With quiet intensity, Bradbury leads his readers into this story about a man who realizes that he carries within himself the gothic symbol of death; then, he […]
Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country Skeleton””Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse””
In this story, Bradbury’s critical eye depicts the intellectual stagnation that a materialistic, keep-up-with-the-Joneses society is capable of producing. Also, through weird, dull George Garvey, Bradbury characterizes a segment of society which sorely needs love, for there is no limit to what Garvey will do to gain approval of Alexander […]
Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse””