steph+73-81

|| ** A fruitless attempt; an attempt that fails to achieve a purpose **
 * ** Page ** || ** Term ** || ** Meaning/Explanation ** ||
 * 73 ||
 * Abortive attempt**

Bowles uses the term “abortive attempt” to characterize Mrs. Lyle from Port’s point of view. Port believes that Mrs. Lyle’s life has been “devoid of personal contacts”, and thus he calls the stories she tells him “abortive attempts”, or failed attempts, at presenting herself a as a woman with many “human relationships”. ||
 * 75 ||
 * Expedient**

|| ** 1 : suitable for achieving a particular end in a given circumstance 2 : characterized by concern with what is opportune; //especially// : governed by self-interest **

Here we are given insight into Port’s thoughts about “life”. Port compares his indecisiveness when considering whether he should take the train with his indecisiveness when making other decisions in life.

He believes that if one tries to consider the value of life when making decisions, a hesitant attitude will result, and that this hesitation will only be resolved by one’s “involuntary decision to refuse participation in it.” Thus he has come to “deny all purpose to the phenomenon of existence” as it is “more expedient and comforting”, or an easier and more comforting way to live life. ||
 * ** 75 ** ||
 * Gradient**

|| ** the rate of regular or graded  ascent or descent : inclination ; a part sloping upward or downward **

Port is traveling with Mrs. Lyle and Eric in the Lyle’s car. They have already climbed steep mountains and now they are travelling along barren, rounded hills with less steep “gradient[s]”. The varying gradients of the foreign land depict the rocky terrain of foreign land. However, Bowles may also be using the varying slopes of the mountains and hills to depict the rather mysterious nature of travels in a foreign country and to symbolize the variety of problems and conflicts that can occur between people in foreign land. ||
 * 75 ||
 * Belvedere**

|| ** Etymology: Italian, literally, beautiful view A structure (as a cupola or a summerhouse) designed to command a view **

Port and the Lyles enjoy the scenery at the belvedere during their road trip. The view is “spectacular” yet also “hostile”- Bowles describes the passage as hazardous and the “drop from the edge [as] sheer” to suggest the exotic beauty of the scenery and perhaps to warn about slight danger or complications in the relationship between Port and the Lyles or in their travels in a foreign country. ||
 * 76 ||
 * Minaret**

|| ** A tall slender tower of a mosque having one or more balconies from which the summons to prayer is cried by the muezzin **

Their hotel in Boussif is a “modern white concrete minaret”. The detail adds to the imagery of the foreign land and thus gives readers a vivid and realistic portrayal of their new destination. This imagery also creates a rich cultural sense in the atmosphere. || This term is a part of a street sign that Port reads while travelling in the Lyles’ car. After Port reads the sign, Mrs. Lyle is astonished, perhaps because she had previously believed that Port did not know any Arabic. Another interpretation would be that the street sign has a rather rude connotation, and thus Mrs. Lyle was surprised to hear the term “Derb Ech Chergui” out of the blue. || Cine Pour Tous **
 * 76 ||
 * “Derb Ech Chergui”** ||
 * “Derb Ech Chergui”- street sign**
 * 77 || **

|| ** “Cinema for Everyone” **

Before boarding the train, Kit runs to a newsstand and buys several French magazines. When trying to read the magazines under the “indistinct mixture of fading daylight and the yellow glow cast by the dim lamps”, the only photographs she could see was in a magazine named “Cinema for Everyone”. Bowles perhaps added the diffficulty Kit experiences in trying to read the magazines to depict the rather mysterious nature of traveling in a foreign land and to portray the small yet random events that occur on foreign journeys. || Exhortations **
 * 80 || **

|| ** An act or instance of urging or exhorting; an instance of inciting by argument or advice **

Tunner continuously exhorts or urges Kit to drink champagne while they are alone on the train. Kit is “absurdly happy” and tells Tunner that there is no need for him to encourage her to “drink up”. Interestingly, she is not only obeying Tunner’s orders to drink the champagne, but also willingly drinking it despite her knowledge of Tunner’s intentions while they are alone on the train. || “Dime ingrate, proque me abandonaste, y sola me dejaste…” //**
 * 81 || **//

 || ** //“tell me, ungrateful, why you abandoned me and left me alone…”// **

These are the lyrics of a song that Kit sings as she drinks champagne. Bowles uses Kit’s singing to portray Kit’s exhilaration and loss of composure after drinking the champagne. Bowles also subtly uses these lyrics to portray Kit’s lonely mood after Port decided to take the Lyles’ car.

Kit’s carefree singing also suggests that the champagne is affecting Kit’s ability to make the right decisions. Hence, it also implies that Kit may be acting out of character and thus sets the scene for upcoming events between Kit and Tunner. ||