Port still hasn’t grown on me; he’s as pretentious as ever. He takes the ride in the car with the Lyles, son and mother, knowing full well how unbelievably annoying they are and then is frustrated with how unbelievably annoying they are. Sure, Mrs. Lyle is a raging racist (so offensive) but I don’t think Port has anything to complain about he made the choice.
I’m still a little fuzzy on why he decided to go in the car with the Lyles rather than take the train with wife and friend. Near as I can guess, he does it simply to have the experience. Port seems bored with life and somewhat fatalistic. He just doesn’t care, so he does whatever seems to be interesting with no thought for his safety (wandering around an unfamiliar Algerian city at night) or consequences (a car ride with a racist and mamma’s boy).
He doesn’t seem to care about Kit, his wife, having the take a hated train while he goes in the car. He gives Kit the option to come with him sure, but Kit doesn’t want to sit all day with the Lyles and she understands leaving their friend, Tunner, to take the train alone is pretty rude. Port doesn’t care whether is rude or not.
Once Port is in the car he doesn’t give Kit another thought. Meanwhile Kit is climbing onto the dreaded train full of fear and anxiety about it derailing or smashing into a mountain wall.
I find Kit a much more interesting character than Port. She has her issues, but they make her colourful and unpredictable. She is an omen counter; following a carefully created check and balance on omens each morning. How she measures whether an omen is good or bad shifts daily, what is a good omen on one morning can be a bad omen the next.
Her fear of death and disaster guide her through her life, yet she doesn’t stay locked away safely in a room. She goes on the train; she takes action and acts without much forethought. She has that in common with her husband. As a character she’s intriguing, as a person I think I would find her maddening. I doubt I could stand being around her for any length of time, she has the same selfishness her husband has. Nevertheless she’s a ‘readable character’ and that makes all the difference.
I find myself wondering why Kit and Port are who they are, what happened in their past to create the carelessness and fear? This question has yet to be answered and I’m not sure that it will be. There’s been no mention of back story in the book. The Characters exist only in the present with little or no reference to previous history. It is intriguing and a little frustrating, because I would understand Port better if I knew a little more about him. Where he was during the war; in service or not; Europe or Asia? Where was Kit, America or England? When did they marry, how did they meet?
I want to know Kit better, Kit is a mystery . Port I feel like I know, he’s George Amberson, Sebastian Dangerfield, Frank Chambers.
In the case of George Minafer, in The Magnificent Ambersons, I know that George grew up being taught by his family that he was privileged and entitled. It’s possible that Port Moresby has had the same upbringing but so far that hasn’t been divulged or even implied in any way, other than his actions.
I suppose that might be all I should expect and perhaps it was written in a time for an audience that would understand this because they were in the same place. This makes The Sheltering Sky similar to The Ginger Man and reminds me that I might not be the intended audience for this book either.
Again, that could change as the story shifts to focus on Kit. As mentioned something is going to happen to change the story drastically and when it does I don’t know how the characters will react. Kit could go stark raving mad, suicidal or fine a curious sense of freedom. Like I said, she’s a mystery and she’ll keep me reading.
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