Circular Valley

I would like to begin and base this blog post with a quote from The Circular Valley:

 "It had aimlessly become one of the young friars. This was a new sensation, strangely rich and complex, and at the same time unbearable stifling ... as the friar, it had gone and stood in the window looking out at the sky, seeing for the first time, not the stars, but the space between and beyond them ... it had felt the urge to leave, to step outside the shell of anguish where it lodged for the moment, but a faint curiosity had impelled it to remain a little longer and partake a little further of the unaccustomed sensation. It held on; the friar raised his arms to the sky ... it was the first time the Atlajala sensed opposition, the thrill of struggle. It was delicious to feel the young man striving to free himself if its presence, and it was immeasurably sweet to remain there."

   Before I dive too much into this short story I want to add emphasis to the fact that Paul Bowles (I find) uses religion, or religious places, often in his stories, as we see from the first sentence of The Circular Valley. I particularly enjoy the imagery in this short story. I believe it is my favorite one from the entire collection because of this quote. Bowles sums up the human emotion of temptation fantastically here. I feel the open air under the friar's arms and I see the night sky. The first two paragraphs of the story were also great in imagery. Bowles uses such heavy imagery here and from the first two paragraphs I myself feel as if I am sticky from the condensation of this landscape and I feel closed in  because of the feeling from the overgrown foliage. I believe this introduction, this feeling, is  foreshadowing the rest of the story. Additionally, I believe Atlajala could be somewhat representing the feeling of temptation and/or lust.

A little past the introduction Bowles inputs Atlajala. In the introduction of Atlajala we see it(?) 'shape shifting'; "The restless Atlajala would move through the halls of the monastery ...  Night after night, along the procession of years, it had hovered, here above the valley, darting down to become a bat,a leopard,  a moth...". Bowles also inserts many Native American qualities to his stories (this could tie in with religion as well).

Now the quote I inserted at the start. This part of writing was one that stood out to me and possibly will for a while. I believe religion is heavy influenced here. It reeks of temptation, the pressure of faith, and not wanting to sin. Atlajala feels the friar looking up towards God to save him from Atlajala and the feelings that come with it. Atlajala thrives on the internal combat the friar faces. There is temptation, pleasure, and struggle.

I also find it great that Atlajala isn't a textbook shape shifter. I don't know much about Native American tribal stories and/or religious texts but from my literary experience, a shape shifter is a 'person' who changes body and form. When entering the friar, Atlajala becomes the friar, it is able to feel what the friar feels, therefore: it is not Atlajala, it is the friar- with Atlajala inside. This is what leads me to believe Atlajala is 'tempation' or 'sin' in spirit and not a shape shifter.