The Celestial Omnibus-by E.M.Foster

The Celestial Omnibus is one of the short story written by E.M.Foster.
I was attracted at the first beginning. A boy is curious about the sign-post opposite his house. It points up a blank alley with the words”Heaven”. He was told that the sign-post is a bad joy made by a young man ages ago and there is no need to think about it any more. But he can not control himself and decides to visit the alley to find out what is in it.

There is a notice on the wall of the alley saying that the company provides sunrise and sunset Omnibused, the passenger could buy a return ticket at this end and will not be issued ticket from the desitination. It seems there is Omnibus driving pass the alley everyday but why nobody knows? and why the dust on the ground is so thick? May be all the things are just bad joke.

But it is not the answer the boy wants.He want to prove that whether the Omnibus exists or not-he senses that all of them are true. At the dawn, he gets up, downstairs and heads to the alley. I can’t breath at this moment:imagine that I have to enter into a dark alley that nobody will go and may encounter something terrible. Normal person will be terrified but curious drives the boy to find out the truth.

There is an Omnibus! The boy jumps into the bus and was taken further and further away. Finally he finds out they are riding on the rainbow! He is in the heaven! It is true! He is right! The boy has a happy time in the heaven, talks with different people and runs across the rainbow.

While when he is home, his story is not believed by his parents. The guest-Mr.Bons appreciates the boy’s potery but disbelieves that is true. The boy insists he has not tell a lie and successfully persuades Mr. Bons to have a ride with him.

Things happen again. When Mr. Bons sees the Omnibus and has been taken to the ride, he worries and frightening, afraiding he is being kidnapped. But when he hears the boy met some people that are the authors of his great books, he is overjoy,deciding to have an intellitual conversation with those admirable authors. But when he realises only the boy not him can go back to the world he scares to death. He cares nothing but cry and beg. Finally he falls through the rocks as it were water and vanished.

Next day, his body is found by people in London, had apparently been hurled from a considerable height.

I am thinking why Mr.Bons is not allowed to return to his world. I think the ending indicates that Mr.Bons lack of imagination to enjoy the peotry and own the books without appreciate them. The boy, may not have read all the great books that Mr. Bons proud of, but he can really enjoy what he have encountered and what he imangines. The boy,rather than the adult, is more welcome by the heaven and is allowed to return to the world. Mr. Bons falls from the heaven because he could not appreciation the joy and beauty of the heaven which actually is a symbol of imaginary literature world.