The Best Way to Find out if you can Trust Somebody is to Trust Them

            Scobie’s final words at the end of Part I are, “I loved him” (286). As we have seen in the past, Scobie always feels pity for those who are facing danger (whether it be in the form of disease, distress, etc.). As Helen Rolt put it, “I think [Scobie] only likes the sick” (239). Although Scobie says this line after seeing Ali’s dead body, there is something very distinct about it that separates it from the pity and love we have seen him feel in other situations. Specifically, here Scobie uses the past tense, meaning that he loved Ali even before he saw found him in the miserable state that he did.

            Scobie’s relationship with Ali is different than his relationship with any other character in the book, because it is based on trust. Trust emerges as something that hugely affects Scobie, and as one of the few things able to invoke his emotions. From Scobie’s perspective, there are five characters that know about his affair with Helen: himself, Helen, Wilson, Ali, and God. Of these five, Scobie only really trusts one, that one being Ali.

            First, let’s look at Wilson. One thing that we should note about Scobie’s current relationship with Wilson is that Scobie does not bear any animosity towards Wilson. In the two confrontations between them that we saw in this reading, Scobie does not attempt to act aggressively towards Wilson. Despite Wilson openly attempting to ruin the whole façade that Scobie has put up, Scobie does not try to do anything more than make Wilson go away. He does not hate him, but he most certainly does not trust him. Without doubt, Scobie would not weep over the loss of Wilson in his life.

            At this point Scobie’s relationship with Helen has become significantly more complicated. She has started questioning him about his beliefs, and how it is possible for him to commit a sin like adultery so consciously and willingly if he believes in hell. She thinks that he might be using his faith as an excuse to avoid being with her. He constantly has to make promises to her to keep things going. With regard to his promises, even Scobie has begun to doubt that he can keep them all. He lies much more easily to Louise than he ever has before, and he worries about which promises he can keep and which he has to betray. He has feelings of distrust towards Helen and himself. At this point, Helen leaving would bring peace into his life. He might be sad, but he would not cry about it. If he were to escape everything, then he would achieve peace as well, and would not be sad to leave all the trouble.

            Scobie’s relationship with God develops more when he is at confession. Father Rank tells him that so long as he is unwilling or unable to stop sinning, then he won’t receive absolution. Scobie does not find any comfort in God, does not think that he can find any salvation in God, and cannot come to terms with God as a forgiving force. He wants to believe that God cannot punish him for loving someone, but cannot come to terms with that. At Mass, he does not find peace or comfort in the words, but feels more like he is on trial. If he completely abandoned God, he would not be upset about it. Without God, Scobie would not really have anything to worry about, and could simply adopt Yusef’s idea of having as many women as you want.

            Unlike anybody else, Ali remained true to Scobie. At the same time, however, Scobie looked for a means to distrust Ali in this reading. He started to feel somewhat paranoid due to all the distrust, and looked for ways to be mad at Ali. However, at the end of Part I, Scobie has to face a tragedy that he has since avoided seeing in person. He sees the death of a child who meant a lot to him. He realized that Ali trusted him, and that if he had trusted Ali then he would not have died. Out of all these characters, Ali was the one able to cause Scobie to cry, and he makes a promise to find the man who killed Ali. Unlike the promises to Helen and Louise, this one is out of true anger, sadness, and love.

Question for discussion: Which now plays a greater role in Scobie's life: trust or pity?