The Celestial Omnibus

“The Celestial Omnibus” celebrates the transcendent power of art, which plays out through the triumph of Art and Childhood Innocence over Adult Weaponization of Intellectualism. These warring perspectives are embodied by the boy and Mr. Bons, respectively. Mr. Bons, obsessed with intellectualism, mistakes the purpose of art, whereas the boy’s innocence grants him truer understanding of art. An early allusion to Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who wrote a poem called “Ode to Heaven,” establishes the characters’ relationships with art. Puzzled by their neighborhood’s “To Heaven” signpost, the boy asks neighbor Mr. Bons about its meaning. However, Mr. Bons reinforces the boy’s parents’ insistence that the sign is a Shelley-like joke. He wonders if the boy is familiar with Shelley’s work, as he respects it, but still dismisses the sign itself. He does not take Romanticism, its framing of art and imagination as portals to the sublime, seriously. Mr. Bons’s (whose name is “Snob” backward) real interest in art becomes clear when the boy’s mother mentions they own at least two volumes of Shelley; Mr. Bons recognizes an opportunity for competition and mentions he owns seven volumes.