The Carnival By Charles Halloway Analysis

As a major theme in this book, acceptance is a challenge for many characters, mainly including Charles Halloway, Miss Foley, and Jim. All of them refuse to accept their age and long to be younger, or older in Jim’s case. They become exasperated with the limitations of their age, and cannot accept the fact that age is not able to be changed. However, when the carousel arrives they have to restrict their temptations. Therefore, throughout the story, acceptance is shown by the actions of the characters in the carnival, as well as the people being recruited by the carnival. The first way acceptance is shown is through Charles Halloway. He exemplifies this because of his desire to be younger. Being 54 years old, Charles has always wanted to have
She shows this by wanting to be younger as well. Because of her lack of acceptance, she becomes tempted by the carnival and what it could offer. The carnival itself thrives off of people like her and Charles, people who are in despair, so they can transform them into freaks to essentially become pieces in their game. They end up succeeding in getting Miss Foley to fall under their trap, turning her into a little girl and making her be in the carnival. A quote from the book to support this is: “Will nodded. 'She must've heard the music, gone out at sunrise. Something went wrong. Maybe the carousel wasn't fixed right. Maybe accidents happen all the time. Like to the lightning-rod man, him inside-out and crazy. Maybe the carnival likes accidents, gets a kick out of them. Or maybe they did something to her on purpose. Maybe they wanted to know more about us, our names, where we live, or wanted her to help them hurt us. Who knows what? Maybe she got suspicious or scared. Then they just gave her more than she ever wanted or asked for'” (160). This helps the reader to interpret that Miss Foley did want a ride on the carousel so she could go back and start over as a young child, and eventually never be seen or heard from for the rest of the book. Another character that the carnival recruited is Tom Fury, who is also known to the boys as the lightning-rod man. In addition to Miss Foley, he shows his despair, but subtly
He desires to be older, wiser, and to obtain the knowledge that he thinks will come with age. As described in the prologue, Jim was born one minute before October 31, and Will was born one minute after, making Jim two minutes younger than Will. This is a contributing factor to Jim’s acceptance of his age, or lack thereof. However, Jim’s urge to take a ride on the carousel diminishes slightly because even if he rides it forward, it would only change him physically, and not give him any more knowledge or wisdom that he has currently. To make Jim understand that he has to accept his life, Will asks, “‘Dad, will they ever come back?’ ‘No. And yes.’ Dad tucked away his harmonica. ‘No not them. But yes, other people like them. Not in a carnival. God knows what shape they'll come in next. But sunrise, noon, or at the latest, sunset tomorrow they'll show. They're on the road’” (287). Charles explains this to the boys, and especially Jim, to show that they have to overcome their temptations throughout their whole lives. The temptations might not come in the same form, but if Jim and Will were to give in to them, it is likely that they will turn out to be like Miss Foley, Tom Fury, or any of the carnival freaks and be hopeless for the rest of their