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Full title  A Bend in the River 

Author V. S. Naipaul

Type of work Novel

Genre Postcolonial fiction

Language English

Time and place written July 1977 to August 1978, England

Date of first publication May 1979

Publisher Alfred A. Knopf

Narrator Salim, an ethnic Indian who grew up on the East African coast

Point of view  The narrator, Salim, speaks in the first person about his life and experiences. Salim narrates from his own subjective perspective, and the credibility of his observations about the world is sometimes questionable.

Tone Disenchanted. The novel recounts the experiences of Salim, who set out to find success and happiness by running his own business in a new part of Africa but instead spends his years feeling perpetually out of place, unsure of himself, and increasingly under threat.

Tense Past

Setting (time) Unspecified, but sometime in the early to mid 1960s

Setting (place) An unnamed town in an unnamed central African nation

Protagonist Salim, a man of Indian descent who grew up on the coast of East Africa

Major conflict The major conflict plays out within Salim himself as he struggles to figure out where he belongs. He feels doubly displaced, both as an Asian in Africa and as someone who grew up on the coast and now lives in the interior. This internal struggle is represented externally between Salim and the radically transforming “new Africa” that emerges in the wake of political independence. As the African nation where he lives claims its own identity, Salim’s personal struggle with belonging also becomes a political struggle to carry on and survive.

Rising action Salim’s childhood friend Indar arrives to lecture at a new polytechnic institute. Indar’s arrival disrupts the monotony of Salim’s life in the town and introduces him to the quasi-European world of the Domain, where he meets a white historian named Raymond and his Belgian wife, Yvette. Salim’s interactions with Raymond and his love affair with Yvette excite him but lead him into further confusion and uncertainty about his place in the world.

Climax In London, Salim officially becomes engaged to Nazruddin’s daughter, Kareisha, and he realizes that he has no real home to go back to. He must find a way to live in the world as it exists now.

Falling action Salim returns to the town at the bend in the river and finds that the President has ordered the nationalization of all foreign-owned businesses. With his shop now owned by an African “state trustee” and the President urging Africans to radicalize, Salim plans his escape to London.

Themes Instability; Dislocation; The necessity of carrying on

Motifs Mottos; ruins; photographs of the President

Symbols The river; the Domain; water hyacinths

Foreshadowing Foreshadowing in the novel mainly relates to political forecasting. Salim frequently hints at the political corruption that will materialize later in his narrative. His many references to the river also subtly foreshadow the novel’s end. He often imagines the steamer’s journey as a proxy for his own escape, which will come in the midst of mounting political turmoil as he boards the boat to leave the town.

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