English 015 - Americans Abroad
November 02, 2003 - November 08, 2003
the lyles
Category: 06B: The Sheltering Sky | Ben Ledue
Port and Kit left for Africa with "the intention of keeping as far as possible from the places which had been touched by war" (14.) This statement is at the root of the Lyles's apparent threat to Port and Kit. Their constant, almost nagging presence within Paul Bowles's The Sheltering...
entire entry
Posted by on November 06, 2003 at 02:19 PM
The Lyle's Creepiness
Category: 06B: The Sheltering Sky | Bryan Ciborowski
The Lyles enter into The Sheltering Sky on an extremely peculiar note. The first scene we see the Lyles is when they knock on Port’s door, come in, and instead of making normal conversation, Eric Lyle remarks on Port’s bag tags, “You have some nice labels on your bags…Luggage...
entire entry
Posted by on November 06, 2003 at 02:15 PM
The Promise of Pain
Category: 06B: The Sheltering Sky | Tom Lakin
“ ‘She’s a hysterical old hag, and the boy - ! He’s a real criminal degenerate if I ever saw one. He gives me the creeps’ ” (Bowles 65). Though there is no evidence that the Lyles are at all dangerous, they are disturbing to Port and Kit. This eerie...
entire entry
Posted by on November 06, 2003 at 02:14 PM
Mysterious Actions, Appearance, and Pasts
Category: 06B: The Sheltering Sky | Eric Robinson
In Paul Bowles The Sheltering Sky, the Lyles develop into extremely creepy characters primarily due to the strange modes in which they conduct themselves and dress, as well as their puzzling history. Soon after Eric Lyle’s character is introduced, he visits Port, who describes how the man “glanced about...
entire entry
Posted by on November 06, 2003 at 02:09 PM
Separation
Category: 06B: The Sheltering Sky | Kelsey Abbruzzese
Whenever the Lyles crash into The Sheltering Sky, shouting and insulting the natives, Port and Kit face separation. The Lyles’ presence in the story suggests the growing distance between Port and Kit and the increasing closeness of Kit and Tunner. The Lyles enter in the story as Port and Kit’s...
entire entry
Posted by on November 06, 2003 at 02:08 PM
Separation
Category: 06B: The Sheltering Sky
Whenever the Lyles crash into The Sheltering Sky, shouting and insulting the natives, Port and Kit face separation. The Lyles’ presence in the story suggests the growing distance between Port and Kit and the increasing closeness of Kit and Tunner. The Lyles enter in the story as Port and Kit’s...
entire entry
Posted by on November 06, 2003 at 02:08 PM
Levels of Creepiness
Category: 06B: The Sheltering Sky | Ross Stern
“ ‘Isn’t married life wonderful?’” (p.60); Eric Lyle makes this statement in regards to his relationship with his mother. Take note, this short stint of “creepiness” is not an isolated incident; other situations like it douse The Sheltering Sky. Port and Kit find the Lyles creepy on two different levels....
entire entry
Posted by on November 06, 2003 at 02:08 PM
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...
entire entry
Posted by on November 06, 2003 at 01:49 PM
The Lyles
Category: 06B: The Sheltering Sky | Thomas Buehrens
While the Lyle’s are first shown as harmless if not colorful characters, alarming details about their lives arise soon afterwards, and contribute to sort of disturbing atmosphere that surrounds them from then on. Our first unsettling hint to their lifestyle comes when Port is meeting Mr. Lyle when he mentions...
entire entry
Posted by on November 06, 2003 at 01:44 PM
Suspicious Behavior
Category: 06B: The Sheltering Sky | Matt Nickel
The Lyles are secretive and everywhere they travel they fall under suspicion by fellow travelers and locals. Port first becomes suspicious of Eric Lyle when Eric examines his luggage at the hotel. Port mentioned that when Eric entered his room, “He glanced about the room in a strangely surreptitious...
entire entry
Posted by on November 06, 2003 at 01:39 PM
Threatened by the Unknown
Category: 06B: The Sheltering Sky | Meg Gray
Bowles’s physical descriptions of the Lyles are full of adjectives that impart a mysterious lack of definition in both appearance and personality. This creates a creepy unknown quality that surrounds the two characters. Eric Lyle is “a heavy-looking youth with a formless face which was saved from complete nonexistence...
entire entry
Posted by on November 06, 2003 at 01:20 PM
Formlessness and Substance
Category: 06B: The Sheltering Sky | Diana Heald
The very first thing Port notices about Eric Lyle is how completely nondescript he is: Eric has a “formless face which [is] saved from complete nonexistence by an undefined brown beard” (p. 53). After Port acquaints himself with Mrs. Lyle, he notes that she “[is] even more objectionable than her...
entire entry
Posted by on November 06, 2003 at 01:13 PM
A Sign of Things to Come
Category: 06B: The Sheltering Sky | Zac Milner
“We’ve never managed, either one of us, to get all the way into life. We’re hanging on to the outside for all we’re worth, convinced we’re going to fall off at the next bump,” Port says on page 101. As travelers, port and Kit are homeless, and this homelessness makes...
entire entry
Posted by on November 06, 2003 at 12:51 PM
Ominous Competition
Category: 06B: The Sheltering Sky | Simon Parsons
“He looked a bit worried; he wanted so much to be the only traveler” (58). From the moment the Lyles appear on the scene, they represent conflict for Port and Kit. The impetus behind the conflict is shown by the creepiness of the Lyles, which first takes shape physically, but...
entire entry
Posted by on November 06, 2003 at 12:40 PM
Creepy Appearances and Omens
Category: 06B: The Sheltering Sky | Karen Tang
The amorphous facial features the Lyles present give a sense of creepiness. Port describes Eric Lyle as a “heavy-looking youth with a formless face which was saved from complete non-existence by an undefined brown beard (p.53)” “Formless,” “non-existence,” and “undefined” suggest his ghost-like transparency. Kit also comments on his...
entire entry
Posted by ktang on November 06, 2003 at 11:29 AM
Hovering
Category: 06B: The Sheltering Sky | Meaghan Tanguay
Besides that fact that Mohammed walks in on the Lyles in bed together after Mr. Lyle claims they are son and mother, which is the creepiest moment in the book, the Lyles always travel with a cloud of creepiness stagnating over their heads. It begins when Port first meets Eric...
entire entry
Posted by on November 06, 2003 at 11:27 AM
The Eerie Dual
Category: Andrew Plowman
The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles reveals a array of characters with definite individual characteristics. Characters that distinctly stand apart from the others, are a creepy and terrifying dual, of a mother and her son, named the Lyles. Kit makes a reference to the son, Eric before she is...
entire entry
Posted by aplowman on November 06, 2003 at 02:23 AM
06B Blog assignment
Category: 06B: The Sheltering Sky | Mark Phillipson
Sixth blog (06B): Post before class on November 6. Make sure you assign your post to two categories: '06B: The Sheltering Sky' and 'your name.' Assigned postings should be 100 – 200 words long. Be concise and specific: quote details to back up your claims. Keep a back-up copy of...
entire entry
Posted by mphillip on November 04, 2003 at 04:36 PM