No surprise, Halloween has changed, and those changes are very meaningful. They map the changes in American society and its place in the world.
As someone of a certain age, my evaluation of Halloween can easily fall into the nostalgia for youth, a time when the world was somehow pure, following that American romanticism of small towns, suburbs, and coming of age.
Sure, I remember making my own costume--already a kind of obstreperous rebellion against commercial costumes that filled stores in the strip mall about a mile away from home. I also remember, sword in hand and armor on chest, leaving the safe boundary of my immediate neighborhood into a world of shadows and potential nightmares beyond the well known to knock on unknown doors, that seemed just like the ones in my neighborhood strangely, yelling out “trick or treat” and receiving candy along with oohs and ahs for the creativity of my and my friend’s juvenile costumes.
