Pygmalion Blog

Page 99

LIZA. So you are a motor bus: all bounce and go, and no consideration for anyone . . .

In this passage, Liza’s comparison of Higgins to a motor bus runs deeper than the fact that buses come and go. Literally, a bus has several uses; most importantly, as a means of public transportation. Higgins, like a bus, picks Liza up from a lower class and, through helping her to master language, brings her to a higher status. But what he doesn’t understand is that one location does not substitute for another. Give a person a far enough destination and it becomes extremely difficult to return. By taking Liza and thrusting her into a completely different environment, he changes everything she knows and is used to. She is no longer a mere flower girl now that she has gained awareness of being a “lady,” and she knows this. Higgins, however, has no consideration for the consequences of his actions and therefore cannot comprehend Liza’s fear and uncertainty. On one hand, he does become emotionally attached to Liza, but without first understanding the consequences of “eating an orange and throwing the peel away,” he can never win her affections. To put it simply, he’s like a bus that picked Liza up in the middle of Compton, exposed her to the luxury of Beverly Hills, brought her back, and now expects her to make the trek from the ghetto by herself. In a Givenchy dress. And heels.