You're Always You

Here we find three entities in conflict, a dramatization of the story's charactersThe Sheltering Sky is a beautifully written and imagined tale about a group of three people traveling in North Africa. However, nothing good happens to them. Time after time these people encounter circumstances that, due to their self-conflicted personalities, they feel compelled to make complicated and generally unfortunate.
Port Moresby is a sad person. While not explicitly stated in the story, it is suggested that the death of his father was also the death of his motivation. He seems to want nothing from life but to travel, perhaps in the hopes that he will leave his troubles behind by outrunning them. Of course this idea is completely folly, but one can still try and that he does. Kit, Port’s spouse, is always afraid of the notion that the future is unknowable. She is constantly fretting about what will happen next in life because she doesn’t want to be responsible for anything bad. However, by fretting in such a manner she creates a self-fulfilling prophecy and becomes responsible for all her own pain. Because of this she seems hell-bent on having a bad time. Tunner is something of a straight man; while good-looking and charming, he is also very vain and accustomed to an American level of comfort and has his complaints about the African climate and living conditions.
Together, these people get along terribly. They are all afraid to speak their mind to each other and sexual tension runs high as both Port and Tunner vie for Kit’s attention. The characters’ lack of understanding about picking good travel partners is glaringly apparent. While one could argue that the social conflict between the three makes for interesting reading that is only true if one identifies with at least one of the characters. Personally I found all of the characters extremely immature and generally detestable, thus I found it quite fitting that they all had an ugly experience together; however that is not to say I found the process by any means enjoyable. Perhaps I am too blessed or have not lived long enough to experience the pains and suffering of life that Paul Bowles frequently evokes in this story, but it seems perfectly clear to me that his characters desperately needed to be open and honest with each other and themselves, confront their personal issues head on, and stop sleeping around.
In the case that this book is to serve as a cautionary tale, Bowles does an excellent job. From this story readers can learn a number of things to keep in mind while traveling: (1) travel with people you can be honest with, (2) in the case you cannot get along with the people you are traveling with, arrange a separation; don’t just ditch them without a word, (3) refrain from sleeping with whores, (4) refrain from committing adultery, (5) if you catch a deathly disease, cut your trip short and find a hospital, (6) don’t let random Arabs take turns fucking you in the desert, even if they give you sustenance and shelter, and finally (7) you cannot run from your personal problems by traveling – you’re you no matter where.