The Halloween Tree

Bradbury devotes significant space to the setting and atmosphere in this opening section, establishing the seasonal ambiance that is very important in this story. Bradbury establishes that it is nightfall on Halloween in a small town in the Midwestern US by using sensory imagery associated with this time of year: cool wind, pumpkins, the colors of autumn leaves, smoke from chimneys, pies, and costumes. The slow, leisurely pace of exposition contrasts with the faster speed of events after the narrative gets going, but these trappings of 20th-century American Halloween form the basis for the novel’s exploration of The Difference but Connectedness of Cultural Traditions, particularly as those traditions relate to death.

The time of year is not the only significant aspect of the work’s setting. In the opening paragraph, Bradbury describes the town as being situated side by side with “wilderness.” The contrast between “town” and “wilderness” is the first of several binaries in the novel—light versus dark, life versus death, etc. In particular, it evokes primal fears about what lies “out there” and might encroach on one’s peace of mind and sense of security. This foreshadows the boys’ journey through the “Undiscovered Country,” which represents a confrontation with humanity’s latent fear of mortality (the phrase itself alludes to a speech in Hamlet that is similarly about death). At the same time, the presence of the town nearby implies that the boys can always “return home,” no matter how scary things become. Likewise, the novel will chip away at the rigid separation of many of the apparent opposites it explores—life and death in particular.

The novel’s first chapters also establish Tom Skelton as the main actor in the story. In his first appearance, Tom stops and listens behind his door—an act that suggests curiosity and a willingness to push past boundaries. His name is also significant in its resemblance to the word “skeleton” (his costume of choice). The novel thus links Tom to death from the start, as his character arc will center on The Need to Recognize Mortality.

As Bradbury proceeds to describe the other boys, boyhood and The Power of Friendship emerge as one of the book’s major themes. By the end of Chapter 1, the book’s central conflict—the danger Pipkin is in—is established. Halloween, and by extension the joys of boyhood, are tied up with Pipkin’s fate, as the other boys do not feel they can enjoy the holiday without him. However, when Pipkin appears in Chapter 3, he is without a Halloween mask and looks ill. Pipkin here symbolizes the human condition of disease and death, laid bare for all to see. These themes relate to the Halloween holiday, but the boys do not yet recognize that connection, which they will explore throughout the story as they attempt to bring their beloved friend Pipkin back to safety.

As the boys approach the haunted house, Bradbury includes an allusion to Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol in the door knocker that is shaped like the head of Jacob Marley, who appears as a ghost in Dickens’s novella. The Halloween Tree resembles A Christmas Carol in that it is a fantastical and redemptive journey involving ghosts, memories, and lessons learned, taking place over a single holiday night (in this case Halloween). In addition, the Halloween Tree itself is a darker counterpart to the Christmas tree, symbolizing death instead of life and joy (though Bradbury will suggest that the two are in fact intertwined).