English 015 - Americans Abroad
The Lyles
The Lyles
Category: 06B: The Sheltering Sky | Hope Stockton
“And the war was the one facet of the mechanized age he wanted to forget”(14).
From the very beginning of the novel, Port defines himself as a traveler seeking to avoid parts of his civilization “not to his liking,” more specifically the experience of the war (14). He and Kit travel to North Africa in search of the one place untouched by Europe. With each adventure he embarks on, Port tries to sink into oblivion, to go “deeper into the Sahara than he had been the moment before…leaving behind all familiar things” (109).
One thing constantly stands in the way of this de-familiarization: the Lyles. The Lyles burst into Port’s world in their silver Mercedes, demanding and ordering from the very first moment. They have an impeccable sense of time and habit, always having the same tea and biscuits daily. Mrs. Lyle consistently berates the natives, calling them “a stinking, low race of people,” and “filthy little beasts” (71, 56). Eric and Mrs. Lyle are vestiges of the past and they serve as a constant reminder of the life Port and Kit hoped to have left behind. The Lyles threaten to take away every chance Port and Kit have of moving on from the war and into oblivion - every town they move onto, the Mercedes follows after, bringing with it the familiar, the memory of the war, and a distinct sense of time and place. Everything from which they are trying to escape is following them around Africa.
Posted by on November 06, 2003 at 01:49 PM