Point of View

The point of view in The Sheltering Sky is third person omniscient. Our narrator has knowledge of the thoughts and emotions of the characters. Most of this introspective commentary is focused on Port, Kit, and Tunner. This is important, because the novel is most concerned with the reaction of these Americans in a foreign land, one for which they are unprepared.

On occasion, our narrator enters the thought process of a tertiary character, most notably Lieutenant D'Armagnac and Captain Broussard. These characters are always reacting to some action committed by the Moresbys, as when Port accuses a local of Bou Noura of theft or when Kit leaves Port's body in Sba an wanders into the desert. They are reliable observers of the strange events of the story.

Our narrator very pointedly neglects the thoughts of the more unsavory and lascivious characters in the story, such as...