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| Original 1965 illustration for "The Bus" |
With each miniature masterwork, Shirley Jackson gets a little more "under our skin." Here again, we have a tale of displacement: of time, distance, and of the sudden loss -- or acquisition -- of a feeling of familiarity. We've all had those moments of dissociation -- familiar things seeming suddenly unfamiliar, and vice versa -- but what if, after we rubbed our eyes, they still remained reversed?
"The Bus" is filled with the small frustrations of the everyday, amplified since we know that the main character is elderly, and at times confused. She is determined, all the same, to reach her destination. How many times have any of us heard the words "this is your stop" from a bus driver or conductor -- who are we to question them? We begin, indeed, with empathy: what a sad turn of events -- what will happen to this innocent old woman? And then, by slow degrees, we begin to anticipate another fate: is this just some random house, with a faint whiff of familiarity? Or is it, though at first unrecognized, home?
Not only buses, but bus stations can be sites of our disorientation. In the Twilight Zone episode "Mirror Image," we meet Millicent Barnes, a seemingly clear-headed and intelligent young woman who's waiting for a bus to take her to the town of Cortland, where she's about to start a new job. As in Jackson's story, the ticket agent is a bit of a crabby man, but in this episode strange things start to happen long before any bus arrives. Millicent's suitcase is already checked -- or is it? -- and, after a trip to the washroom, she catches a glimpse of a familiar figure in the waiting room: herself!
The arrival of a friendly fellow passenger offers at least a sympathetic ear, and partial relief from the confusion -- until it doesn't. As was the trademark in the Twilight Zone, even the twist at the ending has another twist, as Serling's unmistakeable voice intones that all he has to offer are "reasons dredged out of the shadows to explain away that which cannot be explained."
Twilight Zone will always be one of my favorite shows. It never needed any special effects or colored imaging to be interesting, and that's part of what makes it so great. Every episode had its own theme, some even having important messages, and it shows just how good of a director Rod Serling was. The episode "Mirror Image" revisits the doppelganger theme. If I ever experienced what Millicent did, I'd be thinking that I'm going crazy. Same thought applies to "The Bus" by Shirley Jackson. I mean, how would you feel if you knew something, but at the same time you didn't?
ReplyDeleteMia Jean-Louis
ReplyDeleteThemes of moving and confusion are explored in "The Bus" by Shirley Jackson and "Mirror Image" from The Twilight Zone. While a woman in The Twilight Zone encounters odd events at a bus station, an elderly woman traveling by bus in Jackson's story becomes uncertain about where she is going. Both stories cast doubt on readers' conceptions of familiarity and reality, making them wonder about the true nature of what they see.
I think that it is easy to compare "Mirror Image" from twilight zone and "The Bus" to the themes of Jordan Peele's "Us". It's important to be aware that the main character of the "The Bus" is uncertain of where she is going partly because of old age. She stays determined to reach her destination but still doesn't know where she is actually going. The part that really ties into US is the part where Millicent sees herself while waiting to board the bus
ReplyDeleteIn both Shirley Jackson's "The Bus" and the Twilight Zone episode "Mirror Image," the theme of uncertainty and the disruption of reality are explored through seemingly ordinary settings. Jackson's tale follows an elderly woman's journey on a bus, where familiar landmarks become disconcertingly unfamiliar. Similarly, "Mirror Image" presents a woman encountering eerie occurrences in a bus station, blurring the lines between perception and reality. Both narratives masterfully exploit the tension between the mundane and the uncanny, challenging the audience to reconsider their understanding of the world around them. Through these works, Jackson and Serling invite us to confront the unsettling possibility that the familiar can quickly become strange, and that our perception of reality may be more fragile than we realize.
ReplyDeleteBoth Shirley Jackson's "The Bus" and the Twilight Zone episode "Mirror Image" are peculiar stories where disruption of reality is explored. In "The Bus" the elderly woman's dream and eventual arrival at the same destination brings about the idea of familiarity in an unusual, new place. In "The Bus" the house she arrives at is in a dilapidated condition but still oddly familiar. Miss Harper envisions her childhood home and seeks out differences between the two. It gives a sort of Deja vu feel to the story as she senses she has been in this place before. I feel as though the location she is in reflects the physical and mental state Miss Harper is in. The house being worn down and not once like it was can parallel to Miss Harper herself. She longs to be friendly with the younger generation but is hesitant and avoidant. Despite her rude demeaner, the reader feels sympathy for her as she is lost, afraid, and alone. Perhaps she is struggling with social decline, so she is cranky and irritable as a result. She can be perceived as an unreliable narrator as she is under the influence of a sleeping aid and is not mentally fit due to old age.
ReplyDeleteJodi Fowler
ReplyDeleteI found this story a bit interesting. I am a bit confused though about the voice, seemingly a woman who tried to wake up the lady before she was actually awoken. I then got the idea that she was actually dreaming the whole thing. I would even go as far as to consider it deja vu, reversed. Now she have an idea of what to expect and be better prepared.
after reading the story " the Bus" By Shirley Jackson and watching the "twilight zone" episode they both seem to carry the same idea of theme! I enjoyed reading about the short story and how the old lady seemed as if she has been in the house before, I felt just slight different and I can relate to how she feels! When I was little I would go to my friends house to sleep over, her house seemed to have the exact same outline as mine but things were slightly different like the windows placement, and the opposite bathroom! so when I use to sleep over it seemed as if I was sleeping in my opposite house!
ReplyDeleteIn the story, "The Bus", the old lady is woken up by the bus driver telling her that it's her stop. However, when she gets off the bus she is somewhere that she has never heard of. As the story goes on strange things happen and she is brought to a house that looks more and more like her childhood house the longer she stays. Then, as she runs away she is woken up from her "dream", only to find herself in the same strange situation.
ReplyDeleteI interpreted the story "The Bus" as longing for a place to call home. Miss Harper was desperate to go home and hated riding on the bus, and would fall asleep to ignore the happenings on the bus. Once she reached an unknown destination, she realized it resembled her childhood home, which was strange and unsettling to her. I think this went on to show how one place truly feels like home, regardless of your current place of residence. She had been eager to go home, but wasn't aware that home is a place where happy memories and moments are.
ReplyDeleteThe Mirror Image is a standout episode from the Twilight Zone series that explores the ideas of doppelgangers and the feelings that come with meeting someone the same as you. Meeting someone who looks like you inperson can give feelings of paranoia that you might be loosing touch with your own reality and your identity might be replaced by someone else. I find that Vera Miles delivered a great performance as Millicent. She was able to perform and show her growing terror and confusion to the audience.
ReplyDeleteIan Cabrera
DeleteHow I viewed "The Bus" was based off the fact that as people are embarking upon this bus, their 'destination' is always changing. The tension among the passengers rise and reveal their underlying anxieties, prejudices, and desires. It is also exposed how these people wear a mask that may hide their true self. There is a connection between human behavior and their dynamic to community life.
ReplyDeletecarina marques
ReplyDeletethe short story "the bus" depicts a story of people boarding a bus with an unsteady destination no one is confident of. People wear masks to hide their true selves which exposes their anxieties and fears.
Mia JeanLouis
ReplyDeleteThis piece examines issues of displacement, confusion, and the fuzziness of reality and perception as they appear in Shirley Jackson's "The Bus" and the Twilight Zone episode "Mirror Image." Both stories explore the disconcerting experiences of characters whose vision of reality and familiarity is warped, provoking contemplation on the brittleness of perception and the fundamental uncertainty of reality.
Lexianna Santos;
ReplyDeleteBoth Shirley Jackson's "The Bus" and the Twilight Zone episode "Mirror Image" definitely have there fair share of similarities and differences. Both stories explore the concept of identity and how people tend to perceive themselves. The encounters with doppelgängers force the characters to confront aspects of their own identity and question their sense of self. The settings of both stories give off feeling or atmosphere of isolation experienced by the characters. This is including the deserted bus station in "The Bus" or the empty town in "Mirror Image," the environments leaves the characters' feelings of unease or disconnection from the world around them.
Nataly Santos
ReplyDeleteWhen comparing both "The Bus" and the episode of "Mirror Image" there were a few things that I was able to find similar. Firstly both stories use different methods to get the same result, make the stories' reality change and make it seem much more like a dream world than reality. I found the story of "The Bus" more interesting as it gave a sense of distrust between the passengers as no one really knows where they are going or what the others are thinking.
Allison Quinn:
ReplyDeleteI think it’s interesting how Ms.Harpers nostalgia is warped, and then used to play tricks on her sensations. I think the interesting thing about “The Bus” compared to the last story we read by Shirley Jackson is that we can’t tell if our narrator is reliable. She took a sleeping pill, and is an elderly woman who already seems disoriented on the world around her. While reading this story it tore on my heart strings seeing how she just wants to return home, but also seems to be yearning for her childhood home again. Something that made me super sad while reading was the line where she simply states “I’m Lonely.” The story was a little unnerving, but I mainly read it as this lonely elderly woman possibly losing her mind, and herself. Towards the end I think she is possibly rejecting herself as an older lady when her doll yells “Get away from me old lady, get away”. The Ms.Harper runs away calling for her mom. She’s then seen back on the bus being told to wake up again, this time at somewhere lit up with a sign saying “RICKETS LANDING”. I think “The Bus” felt like an exploration of grieving your youth, and accepting that your a changing-growing person.
Shirley Jackson's "The Bus" and the Twilight Zone episode "Mirror Image" share many similarities and differences. Both narratives delve into the theme of identity and how individuals perceive themselves. The encounters with doppelgängers compel the characters to confront elements of their own identity and question their understanding of self. The settings in both stories evoke a sense of isolation felt by the characters. Whether it's the abandoned bus station in "The Bus" or the deserted town in "Mirror Image," the environments contribute to the characters' feelings of unease and detachment from their surroundings.
ReplyDeleteJoe Johnson:
ReplyDelete"The Bus" by Shirley Jackson and the Twilight Zone episode "Mirror Image" both delve into themes of uncertainty and the disruption of reality. Both portray ordinary settings which become unsettling as characters confront eerie occurrences that challenge their perceptions. Through these stories, Jackson and Serling invite readers to reconsider reality and the unsettling possibility that the familiar can quickly become strange. These stories also explore the ambiguity of identity and the disconnection from surroundings, evoking feelings of isolation and unease. Through different methods like unreliable narration and dreamlike atmospheres, both stories blur the lines between reality and illusion, prompting readers to question their own perceptions.
Lucas McElroy -
ReplyDeleteIn "The Bus" by Shirley Jackson she gets awoken by the bus driver and tells her to get out. Once she leaves the bus she arrives in a town that is not her stop. She gets picked up by a truck driver and brought to this mansion that reminds her of her childhood home. Once she falls asleep she hears something in her closet and it is her toys coming alive. She falls asleep again and then gets waken up again by the bus driver and the bus driver says the same thing to her as before. In "Mirror Image" Millicent sees herself at a bus stop and believes that the events happening are because of her evil double. She is also at a bus stop. The most obvious similarity between the two is the bus stop.
in the story "The Bus" by Shirley Jackson can leave its readers with many questions since
ReplyDeleteThe story ends when the bus driver wakes up Miss Harper, who was back on the bus and has just arrived at Ricket's Landing (again). This circular ending creates several possible interpretations: Is she trapped in a hellish time loop, which is about to repeat itself? Did she just have a nightmare on the bus because of the bad trip? Does she suffer from delusions due to impaired memory or poor mental health, exacerbated by disturbing childhood memories? Or is Ricket's Landing really "home" to her after all, perhaps changed by time and a place she doesn't really want to return to?
I believe that Miss Harper was having a dream in which I experienced all her thoughts before falling asleep, since on some occasions I have experienced something similar to Miss Harper's when I think too much about that topic or place a lot of importance on it. This makes me have dreams and they make me doubt if I am really dreaming it, and there are times when I wake up thinking that I really lived in that dream and that everything was real. So I think this was the house of the protagonist of this story.
Byron Veliz- As I saw the the twilight zone clip it brings up this idea that we wlays think we did something but we love to double check always to ensure we are not going crazy. However in this clip it does make the women seem crazy as she checks in everytime with the guy that works at the bus station how her suitcase always ends up next to his desk as she has already done this once.
ReplyDeleteThe Twilight Zone episode "Mirror Image" and Shirley Jackson's "The Bus" undoubtedly contain certain parallels and discrepancies. The themes of identity and how people typically view themselves are explored in both tales. The characters' experiences with doppelgängers make them examine and confront aspects of their own identities. The protagonists' feelings of loneliness are conveyed by the scenery in both novels. This includes the desolate bus stop in "The Bus" and the vacant town in "Mirror Image," where the characters experience discomfort or a sense of alienation from their surroundings.
ReplyDeleteI will always think of "Twilight Zone" as one of my favorite shows. Without cable or Wi-Fi when I was a child, I enjoyed viewing it through my window antenna. One of the things that makes it so amazing is that it never required colorful images or special effects to be engaging. Each episode had a distinct subject, and some even had significant messages that demonstrated Rod Serling's directorial prowess. The concept of doppelgangers is revisited in the episode "Mirror Image". I would believe I was going insane if I ever had what Millicent had. The Shirley Jackson novel "The Bus" carries the same meaning.
ReplyDeleteFranz Eliasson
Amanda Viveiors
ReplyDeleteThe story "Mirror image" and "the bus" both share a theme of
identity and how individuals see themselves versus how others see them. In "The Bus," the protagonist struggles with being perceived as an outsider, while in "Mirror Image," the protagonist struggles with the existence of her doppelganger, who represents an different version of herself.