Turmoil in Morocco

In the mid-1970s, when Bowles wrote "The Eye" while living in Tangier, Morocco was in turmoil. After Morocco became an independent monarchy under Muhammad V in 1956, the country struggled against republican opposition, and King Hassan, who succeeded his father in 1961, fought off attempted military coups and assassinations. Accused of corruption and incompetence, Hassan tried to deflect attention from his administration and consolidate support for the monarchy by pressuring Spain to withdraw from the Moroccan Sahara, a phosphate-rich area. In 1976, Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania signed a treaty dividing the land among the countries. The Polisario Front, a rebel group aligned with the indigenous Saharawis, embarked on a guerrilla war to oust the three countries. They succeeded in forcing Mauritania and Spain out and proclaimed the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic. However, Moroccan troops remain, having built a series of desert walls to demarcate their territory. King...