---
John
Steinbeck's post World War 2 novel The Wayward Bus is a consistent masterpiece.
The plot, which concerns travelers trying to take a bus through rural rainy
California, is overshadowed by the complex characters who populate the tale.
It's no mean feat for an author to vividly describe more than a dozen
characters and get inside their heads, reveal their desires, fears, wants,
hates, generosities, prejudices and more, but it's done to perfection. The
central character is Juan Chicoy, a handsome 50-something bus driver who also
runs a small diner/gas station with a bus stop in a remote California outpost
near the Mexican border. With him is his wife Alice, an insecure, homely woman
who uses tantrums to mask her fear that Juan will leave her. The hired help is
Kit, a teen whose bad complexion gives him the unfortunate nickname of Pimples,
and Norma, a mousy, naive 20sh young woman with a crush on Clark Gable.
One day the bus breaks down and several passengers spend the night at the
diner. They include Mr. Pritchard, a rich businessman traveling with his wife
Bernice and 25-year-old daughter Mildred. Also, there's Ernest Horton, a young
salesman who fought in World War 2, and a bitter, spiteful old man named Van
Brunt. They are soon joined by Camille, a beautiful blond who attracts the
attention of all the men. With the exception of Alice, they all board the bus
and take off for San Ysidro, which is the next stop. It may rain, and Juan
tells them risk is involved. The friendless Norma soon bonds with Camille, and
Pimples, Horton, Pritchard, and even Van Brunt try to find seats on the bus
that provide them the best views of Camille's legs. The cynical Juan observes
it all from his driver's seat. That's all the plot that needs to be mentioned.
The strength of the novel are the characters and how through stress Steinbeck
deftly tears through their exterior defenses and reveals what they are really
like. The Pritchard's marriage is an illusion. The husband talks to his wife
Bernice like a toddler, granting her favors, and she subtly controls him
through infrequent offerings of sex and severe headaches designed to induce
guilt and capitulation. When the bus breaks down, their sham marriage is open
to all to see when stress causes them to fight. Eventually, after his clumsy
attempt to sweet-talk Camille is rebuffed easily, a temporarily enraged Mr.
Pritchard rapes his wife Bernice in a cave, where she's resting with a
headache.
It's a gritty, horrifying scene, but Bernice's reaction reveals even more their
perverted lives. While sitting in the bus, ignoring her guilt-ridden husband,
she's calculating what she can get out of his guilt from the rape. She thinks
it may be worth an orchid house. Alice, Juan's wife, is also a compelling
character. A once attractive woman who has lost her looks, she lives in fear
that Juan will leave her. This fear, far from placating her, makes her a shrew.
She terrorizes the help and browbeats Juan, who takes most of it with a smile.
What's behind Alice's behavior is a desperate attempt to be noticed by her
husband. She has a very real fear that he is tired of their life and wants to
leave. "Alice braced herself for the rage she knew was coming, and then
Juan looked slowly toward her. His dark eyes were amused and warm, the focus
changed again, and he was looking at her, and she knew that he saw her."
Juan's decision on whether or not he will leave Alice will directly influence
the success of the passengers getting to San Ysidro once the bus bogs down in
soft mud and can't move. Camille, a cynical beautiful blonde, is another
interesting character. She's a stripper, but tells everyone she is a dental
nurse. She'd like to ditch the mousy Norma who idolizes her and babbles of the
apartment they will share in Los Angeles, but is too soft-hearted to extinguish
her dream. Mr. Pritchard believes he knows Camille, and during his clumsy
pick-up attempt an exasperated Camille tells him where they've met. It was at a
businessman's strip show. "You remember the girl that sits in the wine
glass? I've seen what you boys look like. I don't know what you get out of it
and I don't want to know. But I know it isn't pretty, mister," she coldly tells
him. John Steinbeck was a prolific writer, and those who have already read The
Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men will enjoy the lesser-known but
just-as-good novel. There is a pretty good film adaption of The Wayward Bus made in 1957,
Doug Gibson
