Greed In Ray Bradbury's Wicked This Way Comes

“Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.”-Erich Fromm. All humans have, or will, commit at least one of the seven deadly sins in their lifetimes. Avaritia, or greed, is one of the seven deadly sins, and it is the one sin that every person, no matter how selfless, commits. Greed fosters in the human mind subconsciously; it is human nature for one to want more than they have. In today’s day and age, every person compares what they have to what others have. Moreover, the American mindset, itself, is to just consume more and more. Human lust and greed is insatiable, once a person wants something, they will stop at no costs to get what they desire. The greed consumes the person, and eventually they just become a shell of their former selves, becoming a slave to

In the book Something Wicked This Way Comes, Bradbury creates a seemingly harmless carnival that exploits each character to act on their greed and desires.
Jim’s desire to become older allows the carnival (more specifically, Mr. Dark) to easily manipulate him. His entire life, Jim’s life is controlled by his overbearing mother, who has lost everything except for Jim. Jim longs to grow up and be free, and he believes that the only way that he will ever be free is by becoming older. Jim stubbornly thinks that the only way he will ever be taken seriously is by becoming older, and they only way that he can become older is through the merry- go- round. However, Will tries to explain to Jim that, “'Talk, sure. But throwing yourself head first in that taffy machine and getting your bones pulled long, Jim, you wouldn't what to do with your bones then!' 'I'd know,' said Jim, in the night. 'I'd know.'” (Bradbury 70).” Jim does not understand that by giving into his greed, he will become a slave to his desires. For instance, by going on the merry go round even once, Jim will realize that his age will never be perfect, so he