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What does Salim mean by the phrase “the world is what it is”?

When Salim opens A Bend in the River by declaring that “the world is what it is,” he announces an individualistic philosophy that emphasizes the importance of adaptation. At the core of this philosophy lies a defeatist opinion about the state of the world. The phrase “the world is what it is” implies that there is nothing any individual can do to change the world. Although this philosophy may initially appear depressing, the recognition of its truth enables a shift in attitude, such that an individual realizes the importance of their own adaptability. According to Salim, only those who can successfully adapt to the harsh realities of the world deserve to survive. This is what he implies in the second part of the novel’s opening sentence: “men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in [the world].”

The philosophy announced in this opening paragraph is ironic, given that Salim spends the vast majority of the novel feeling stuck. He is at once desiring to pursue greater success and yet unwilling to break free from the familiar comforts and anxieties of his everyday existence. However, Salim does learn important lessons from other men who most closely embody his philosophy of individualism. Indar serves as one important model of the self-made man. Salim sees Indar as an individualist who has rejected sentimentality about his own past in order to blaze a unique trail. However, Indar’s eventual retreat from the world proves him unable to maintain his individualist attitude. Salim finds a more successful model in Nazruddin, who, despite his struggles, always remains enthusiastic and ready to adapt to the next challenge. Even after moving his family several times, Nazruddin continues to operate under the assumption that the individual must make their own way in an unchangeable world.

What is Salim’s relationship to the idea of Europe?

Salim’s relationship to the idea of Europe changes over the course of the novel. Whereas at the beginning, he expresses a strong bias in favor of Europe, by the end of the novel, Salim has developed reservations about the former center of global imperialism. In the early chapters, Salim describes how he depended on European books to learn about the history of the Indian Ocean and its peoples. He also describes his dependence on the British colonial government for circulating images that helped him find beauty in his own culture. Salim valued European ideas and imports, which played an important role in his decision to move to the town at the bend in the river. The town had been a colonial outpost before independence, and he felt drawn to its cosmopolitan past. One representative of this past was Father Huismans; Salim considered Father Huismans a role model because he upheld the fundamental superiority of Europe but made it possible for Salim to find value in Africa as well.

Salim’s relationship to the idea of Europe began to change soon after the President green-lit construction of the Domain. Salim initially saw the Domain as a reflection of the President’s vision for a new Africa—a modern Africa that drew inspiration from European cities. But Salim soon dismissed the Domain as a hoax. The European-style concrete-and-glass construction was shoddy, and certain aspects of the project remained incomplete. Furthermore, as Salim got to know some of the most influential Europeans in the Domain, including Raymond and Yvette, he realized that they too were disappointing. Despite his growing reservations about Europe, Salim’s desire to escape Africa led him to visit Nazruddin in London. He found London full of people like him, struggling to eke out a living and apparently just as miserable as they’d been wherever they came from. Thus, even as he resolved to escape Africa, Salim saw in Europe a disappointing reality.

What significance does the concept of homelessness have in A Bend in the River?

A sense of homelessness affects many of the novel’s characters, most of whom feel geographically uprooted, culturally dislocated, or otherwise out of place. Salim feels doubly displaced: both as an Asian living in Africa and as someone who left the community where he grew up and moved to a place where he had no roots. Salim’s double displacement makes him feel like he doesn’t fully belong anywhere, a feeling that can be described as homelessness. This feeling grew more intense after the uprising that scattered his home community on the coast. Salim suddenly had no home to return to, and because the town at the bend in the river didn’t feel like home either, he entered a state of permanent, existential homelessness. Other characters experience varying degrees of this condition. Metty and Ferdinand come from mixed backgrounds that prevent them from feeling fully at home anywhere. Nazruddin is a global nomad forever chasing new opportunities. Finally, Yvette and Raymond experience existential homelessness as their relevance in Africa decreases.

The character most explicitly associated with the concept of homelessness is Indar, who suffered from the severest case of the condition and developed a strategy to numb himself to it. Like Salim, Indar grew up in the Indian community on the East African coast. Unlike Salim, he had the good fortune to attend a prestigious university in England. Yet Indar’s experience abroad made him feel more lost than ever. In England, he realized that the world was not designed to benefit people like him. In other words, his education had prepared him for a life he couldn’t have, condemning him to an existence of perennial dislocation. Indar realized that if he wanted to succeed, he would need to adapt to the world as it was. This realization enabled him to reimagine himself as completely autonomous and belonging only to himself. In order to feel like he had agency, Indar chose to not to lament his existential homelessness but to transform it into a sign of radical freedom.

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