The novel is a bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel, which explores a formative time in Will and Jim’s lives. The novel’s preoccupation with aging and the passage of time also applies to Charles. Time impacts Will, Jim, and Charles in different ways. Charles looks to the past, regretting the years that, in his mind, alienate him from his son. Jim is impatient for the future, where he will have the agency and freedom of an adult. Will wishes to exist in the present: He is the constant in his relationship with his best friend and father, trying his best to assuage Charles’s regrets and Jim’s impatience. Time is the key factor that allows Mr. Dark to tempt Jim and Charles. He offers Jim swift passage into adulthood via the carousel, and offers Charles the Faustian bargain of betraying Will and Jim for the opportunity to regress to a younger age.

The carnival’s main weapon is the ability to control aging through the carousel. Of all the temptations that the carnival offers, this is the most powerful, as it speaks to humanity’s fear of mortality. The Mirror Maze expounds this fear, showing Charles and Miss Foley visions of the future and past to tempt them further.