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Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

The River

The “great African river” that runs past the town has a constant presence in the background of Salim’s narrative, and it serves different symbolic purposes. On one hand, the river serves as a geopolitical anchor for the town, enabling it to survive as a regional trading center. On the other hand, it serves as a symbol of mobility. The river makes it possible for villagers to commute to town from the bush and for foreigners and politicians to travel there from the capital. But the river also provides an escape route from the town, as when Salim departs on the steamer in the novel’s final pages. In yet another sense, the river embodies an almost mystical power that indicates natural dominance. Salim recognizes as much in the opening chapter, when he explains, “The river and the forest were like presences, and much more powerful than you.” It is perhaps due to this mystical power that Salim later experiences a liberating “illumination” at the river. More than anything, though, the river expresses the duality of stability and change. At once the same and yet always changing, the river symbolizes constancy in the midst of transformation.

The Domain

The Domain symbolizes the instability of “the new Africa.” When the President establishes it just outside the town, he wants it to serve as a model for his vision of a new Africa. He makes this model location appear sleek through the construction of European-style buildings of concrete and glass. He also turns it into an international center for intellectual exchange by establishing a polytechnic institute. This institute would ideally give birth to “the new African,” well educated and prepared to aid in the development of the new nation. For Salim, however, the Domain suffers from an excess of idealism that makes it a “hoax.” The Domain presents a vision of Africa that bypasses the “real” Africa and looks outside of the continent for inspiration. Salim feels validated in his cynical response to the President’s utopian vision when he notices the shoddy construction of the Domain’s buildings. The abandoned and overgrown agricultural area furnishes another example of a vision that faltered under the grandness of its own ambition. Ultimately, the Domain will fall apart and revert to bush.

Water Hyacinths

The water hyacinths in the river symbolize a new kind of African person who quickly began to gain power following political independence. Salim explains that the hyacinths appeared near town at the same time as the unnamed country gained its independence. The hyacinths, which locals called “the new thing,” were thus part of “the new Africa.” Yet the hyacinths were not introduced to the river ecology from outside. Instead, “the water hyacinth was the fruit of the river alone.” To the locals, this homegrown botanical specimen represented just “another enemy,” though a formidable one. The hyacinth proliferated faster than anyone could control it, seeding itself and forming densely tangled vegetation that clogged up the river. Concealed in Salim’s discussion of the water hyacinth is a symbolic language to describe a new kind of African who came into being around the time of independence and quickly spread a political ideology that many locals didn’t approve of. Just as the water hyacinth became a menace to the river ecology, these politically active African rebels became a menace to the town and to the country at large.

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