27 pages • 54 minutes read
E. M. ForsterThe Celestial Omnibus
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1911A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
What makes “The Celestial Omnibus” a Modernist short story? How might the Bloomsbury Group have contributed to E. M. Forster’s writing? How might the story have changed if it had been written during a different literary era?
Compare “The Celestial Omnibus” to another of Forster’s short stories from The Machine Stops, The Celestial Omnibus, and Other Stories. What shared themes emerge, if any? Does the short format make the two stories’ respective themes more effective?
Describe the titular omnibus in appearance and purpose. How does Forster use it to reinforce one of the story’s themes? Would this connection work if the omnibus were a different vehicle?
How does the boy’s anonymity reinforce one of the story’s themes? How does it serve the story as a whole, as an allegory?
What is the significance of the omnibus’s different drivers? Why might they change between trips, or times of day?
Examine the role of allusion in the story. Which literary figures play a role in the ending and why? How does Forster use allusion to advance characterization?
Examine the role of age in the story. How does the boy’s youth reinforce one of the story’s themes?
Examine the role of transitions. Why does Forster sometimes jump between scenes so abruptly? How does this impact the reader’s experience?
Why is the boy’s ending abstract? Why is this also the case for his parents?
Why does Forster choose to end the story with a newspaper article? How does this play into Mr. Bons’s role in the story?
Related Titles
By E. M. Forster
