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Boujemaa Almallam

Professor: Charki Karkaba

MA in Studies in Literary and Cultural Encounters

MA Course: Representing Otherness

Date: 18/06/2016

Journey into Otherness in Paul Bowels “The Sheltering Sky”

Paul Bowles’ novel The Sheltering Sky (1949) is attention-captivating novel. It doesn’t

only revolve around the geographical journey of its characters, but it transcends it to delve

into the spiritual journey and adventure that is brought to the surface in the moment of

encounter with the “Other”. Port, Kit and Tunner, embark on a spiritual quest for the “Other”,

the local culture, the natives, death, the desert and the unknown. Through this encounter, the

trio experience difference, psychological trauma and death. This paper is meant to explore,

through Emmanuelle Levinas’ philosophical principle of “Face to Face”, the internal journey

of the main characters in the novel, notably Port and Kit. Before delving into the analysis of

the spiritual journey and the encounter with the other, a brief account of the geographical

journey of the novel is necessary.

 The Geographical Journey in The Sheltering Sky

The novel is made up of three sections under the subheadings: “Tea in the Sahara”;

The second one ‘The Earth’s Sharp Edge”; and the last one, “The Sky”. The first part, which

is set in Oran, Algeria, introduces the major characters in the novel. Three American travelers

who are moving from United States to North Africa have just come to find themselves

alienated from the established norms and standards at home and are consequently ruined by

the experience of their journey.

Port Moresby is the male protagonist. Along with his wife, Kit, and his friend, Tunner,

who is invited at the last minute by Port, the trio go on a purposeless journey to different
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places in North Africa. Seemingly, they are not bound by any obligation. Their journey is an

open one. It is not restricted by time or space because they are not tourists but, as they claim,

travelers.

Port, Tunner and Kit have just arrived in Oran, Algeria, with the aim to escape the

repercussions of the Second World War. This adventure is suggested by Prot whose marriage

with Kit, which has lasted for about ten years, has lost its meaning since Port and Kit have

lost contact, spiritual and physical, and have started to sleep in separate rooms. Port hopes that

the adventure will help them get together again and empower their sentimental bond.

However, their worldviews toward life and on the desert are poles apart. Port is fascinated by

the desert, and Kit is troubled by it. While Port expresses his self-pride in that he is spiritually

determined and psychologically ready to go through a nomadic experience and encounter the

unknown, Kit is overcome by fear as she renders every unfamiliar and strange occurrence as a

bad sinister which forecasts something unpleasant that may strike the trio, the case of Port’s

dream for example.

At Rue de la Mere Rouge, Port, guided by Smail, a native, sneaks away to a

prostitute’s house at night in a deserted quarter filled with a huddle of dogs on the border of

the town; he sleeps with her and she robs him. Port’s sexual involvement with Marhina shows

the sharp divide between the American couple. This initial stage of the story also uncovers

that an odious farcical couple, Eric Lyle and his “mother” are booking in the same hotel. The

couple insists on taking part in the journey with the Americans. They give Port a ride to

Boussif. Kit refuses to go there by car, and she decides to take the train with Tunner instead.

On their way to Boussif, Tunner, under the spell of Champagne, seduces Kit who finally gives

in to his whims, and they finally sleep together. When they arrive in Boussif, Port tries to get

on well with his wife Kit in an attempt to rejuvenate their relationship. His attempts, however,

have always been thwarted by the presence of Tunner or Eric Lyle.

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From Boussif, the trio decided to head for Ain Korfa, a small hellish fly-infested town

in the Sahara. Port tries to find a way to get rid of Tunner in order to enjoy his company with

Kit. Port persuades Tunner to leave the hotel “Carrion Towers” which has smelly rooms and

the mountains which send out unpleasant odor of garbage. He suggests that Tunner travel with

the Lyles to Massad. Tunner travels to Massad, and Kit and Port head for Bou Noura together.

Part one also features the revelation of the Lyles true identity. Port finds out that the Lyles are

not in fact mother and son but lovers.

Soon after when Port ad Kit arrive in Bou Noura, Port discovers that his passport is

missing. He, at first, accuses the owner of the hotel of stealing it, but he later finds out that

Eric has stolen it. From Bou Noura, the couple heads for El Ga’a, a small twon hit by the

meningitis epidemic. As soon as they arrive there, Port falls seriously ill and can barely stand

on his feet. Kit wants to book in “Hotel El Kasr”, but her pleading to the receptionist is turned

out because of the epidemic that has stricken the town. Port’s health grows worse. Unable to

find a doctor in the town, Kit decides to hire a truck and take Port to Sba where they meet a

French captain who diagnoses Port’s illness as typhoid and gives him pills and housing.

Wondering whether or not typhoid can kill a person, Kit asks the captain about how

dangerous typhoid is. Kit went out to meet Tunner who came after them to Sba. Upon her

return home, she discovers that Port is dead. She leaves Sba without informing Tunner. She

wanders alone in the desert. Turner comes across Eric in Sba looting Port’s luggage and beats

him.

In the last part of the novel, as Kit is wandering in the empty wide ominous desert, a

group of people at the head of them is Belqassim, driving a caravan of camels pick up Kit and

rape her. Belqassim later disguises her as an Arab boy and takes her home where she is kept

and locked into a room. Belqassim keeps raping her in what has become his daily ritual, and

he even lets his friend have his way out to her, a fact which makes Kit resent Belqassim. This
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resentment reveals that she has developed an intimate relationship with Belqassim. The

latter’s wives discover the truth of Kit, and out of jealousy they attack her. Belqassim, against

the well of his wives, arranges a ceremony and marries Kit as his fourth wife. When

Belqassim’s visits to Kit in her room diminished, Kit finds a way out and escapes. She gives

the jewelry Belqassim has given her to his other wives just to help her escape and go away, a

fact which made the wives of Belqassim happy.

Kit roams the streets alone, struck traumatized and insensitive. She is finally rescued

by the consulate of the USA who helped her to go back home. But after the arrangement of

her trip to her mother land, she sneaks out and disappears in the street, which indicates that

the journey towards the unknown and the desert is an endless journey.

 The Spiritual Journey and the Encounter with the Other

Otherness is central to cultural studies, and it has captured the interests of many

philosophers, among them Emmanuelle Levinas. Levinas’ philosophy on “Otherness” has

been so radical. It contests the general tendency that has predominated the Western

philosophy. He argues that Western philosophy has been trying to totalize and centralize the

problem of the self and the other, and as a result of this totalization and centralization, it

eliminates the “Other”, places the “Other” in the margin, and renders the “Other” exotic.

Levinas introduces an alternative to this predominant tendency, proposing a new approach

which aims at welcoming the other in the realm of the self. In other words, Levinas’

philosophy challenges the totalizing philosophy the places the self as the centre for

knowledge, civilization, and progress. These univocal ideas that reduce the rest of the world

into an object has dominated the Western thinking until Levinas reacted to this tendency in an

attempt to establish an intersubjective perspective which gives prominence the other

Characters in The Sheltering Sky experience a mysterious journey to different lands,

mountains and deserts. This journey has devastating effects on certain characters, and it leads
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to the death of other characters. Each character experiences an internal journey when

encountering another culture, which is alien to it. In their contact with the Moroccan space

and people, characters reveal certain feelings and attitudes towards the other. It is through this

encounter with the “Other” that the American travelers discover themselves.

The geographical journey towards mystery and the unknown leads to the unveiling of

the self. Kit is a vacillating indecisive character. Her encounter with the natives creates a

sense of ambivalence in her; she feel both attracted to this exotic space but at the same time

disgusted and repulsed. Kit’s journey to the Orient uncovers the unknown in the self. Her face

to face encounter with the natives, the space, and the unknown destinations she is to discover

in the novel shows that she is an ambivalent character which fluctuates between repulsion and

attraction. Her attitude in the beginning of the novel reveals that she is fearful and

endangered, yet she longs for encountering the other. This fear is affirmed when she reacted

to Port’s dream, considering it as a bad omen that may foreshadow the peril the travelers may

encounter. The repulsion and attraction Kit experiences is inverted in the last part of the

novel. When Port dies, Kit is left alone in the desert. Her only resort then is the trading

caravan, led by Belqassim. The latter picks her up, disguises her, rapes and her and finally

marries her. This reveals that kit is turned native since she eats with the natives, drinks tea

with them, dresses like them and she ultimately develops an intimacy towards Belqassim.

These acts absorb and immerse her in the cultural and social fabric of the natives. This shows

that the self is in a perpetual desire for the other, and these encounters with the hideous wild

faces, the desert and the unknown, which are all symbols Otherness, are signs or radical

alterity. The encounter with the “Other” is thus motivated by the desire to dig into the “Self”

in order to expose certain traits about the “Self”. This state of ambivalence is significant since

it shakes the early established rigid conception of the “Self” as central. It opens the gates to

the “Other” to take part in a dialogue with the “Self” and the other way around. In Levinas’
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perception of Otherness, face to face encounter is not merely physical, but it is rather what

escapes our gaze. The other is, for him, perpetually differed.

Mystery is a permeating feature in Paul Bowles novel. Port’s journey into the Orient is

not only a journey to the unknown culture of the other, but a journey towards the unattainable.

He identifies with the natives and is fascinated by the places he visits. He attest in his

conversation with the Lyles that the “Arabs are very sympathetic” (10). Prot is also aware that

his spiritual journey can only be complete when he gets in the contact with the natives. His

meeting with Ismail, though he seems repulsed at the beginning, is very significant in this

regard. He and Smail have come to terms when Smail takes him to spend a night in a

prostitute’s tent. This act of sexual involvement with a native girl translates Port’s desire

towards the Other. His desire is to experience the Other. The search for sensual pleasure is a

psychological and spiritual drive that pushes Port to take part in a sexual intercourse with a

local girl. Port, though he lusts after the local girl, is also vigilant while at Marhina’s tent. He

does not feel completely comfortable. Again, this state of doubt and uneasiness reveals the

ambivalent position of Port. This ambivalent position keeps the Encounter with the Other

indefinite.

The spiritual adventure culminates when Port becomes sick, his health deteriorates

and finally dies. Death can be considered an “Other” whom Port encounters during his

journey. It exposed the ambivalent, mysterious and ambiguous relationship between Kit and

Port. Taking part in love affairs with native men after the death of Port shows the mysterious

character of Kit. She is not loyal to her husband. It is also remarkable that Kit’s final

destination in the novel is mysterious. The reader is undecided whether or not Kit has gone

back to the United States after having received assistance from the US consulate. Kit sneaks

away ending the novel with an enigma that is suggestive of the infinity of the spiritual
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journey. She is still in quest for the unknown. This corroborates the idea that knowing the

“Other” is a process that is doomed infinite, unattainable and in a continuous deferment.

To sum up, The sheltering sky is a masterfully written novel that better features

cultural encounters with the Other. These encounters do not merely tend to render the other as

exotic, backward and uncivilized, but they rather open news avenues for the self to embark on

a spiritual journey for self discovery. Levinas’ premise of “Face to Face” encounter is

foundational in that it helps uncover the mysterious world of both the Self and the Other and

the ambiguous relationship that govern the “Self” and the “Other”.