The tale describes an Egyptian man who flees his kingdom, and lives as a foreigner before returning to Egypt shortly before his death.

[3] The Story of Sinuhe is written in verse and opens with a wording similarly stylized like other autobiographical coffin texts that are common in Middle Kingdom Egyptian tombs.

Upon hearing the news, Sinuhe is highly upset and enters a panicked state, “my heart staggered, my arms spread out; trembling fell on every limb.

Sinuhe flees away from Egypt, sneaks past guards, crosses the Lake Maaty and sets out for foreign lands.

Sinuhe is nursed back to health and eventually, after more travelling, meets Amunenshi, the ruler of upper Retjenu.

The story closes with Sinuhe addressing the visitors of his tomb, and the tale returns to its original funerary text stylization.

In a discussion about this archaeological expedition, author Alan Gardiner made note of the fragility and poor condition that the papyrus was found in; “if a fragment of the material were pressed slightly between the finger and thumb it disappeared in a mere dust".

Including some fragments from a New Kingdom Ostracon,[9] and a duplicate of the text[10] discovered in the Museum of Natural History of Buenos Aires, as well as many more papyrus.

Most scholars on Egyptian literature agree that the large prevalence of sources indicate a widescale popularity of the Story of Sinuhe and that it had been copied in multitudes.

The traditional beginning in which the text is stylized as though it is written on Sinuhe’s tomb, listing his accomplishments and service to the royal family, is broken upon his fearful fleeing when the King Amenehmat I dies.

The remaining stanzas of the story do not fit more traditional Egyptian narrative styles, at least until Sinuhe is able to return and be laid to rest in Egypt.

This is a key narrative choice showing how Sinuhe is disconnected from traditional Egyptian culture once he departs from the safety and security of his homeland.

This form of writing is common in Middle Kingdom letters, and is another indication of Sinuhe only being able to experience Egyptian culture in direct connection to Egypt.

Another way of analyzing the narrative is that unlike most 'autobiographies' are written in some timeless fashion, however there is the underlying idea that Sinuhe desires to die within Egypt.

Even if Sinuhe is alive at the end of the story, there's the underlying theme of wanting to reconnect with his culture directly, including dying within Egypt and receiving proper burial rites.

Essentially, Sinuhe’s name serves as etymological foreshadowing for the ideals and events that take place throughout the story.

This would mean that he flees out of a need for self-preservation, making a rash decision that lands him outside of Egypt for the majority of his remaining life.

A second way to interpret the flight from Libya away from the prince, is less about guilt and covers instead the concepts of grappling with internal morality.