Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

Instability

A Bend in the River presents a pessimistic view of Africa’s future as the continent takes its first steps toward political independence. The novel’s central vision for “the new Africa” comes through the President, who, in the early years of his political office, strives to unify his country. He does so by instigating development projects that will help usher his country into the modern world but also destroy valuable aspects of its past. The President proves unable to bring his vision for a new Africa to life. For instance, he commissions the construction of the Domain in the hopes that it can serve as a model for the new Africa, but the Domain fails to live up to the President’s ambitious aims. The buildings are shoddy, and some projects remain unfinished. Furthermore, Salim sees the Domain and the intellectuals who live there as pursuing an “Africa of words” that remains disconnected from the “real” Africa. Meanwhile, the town goes through repeated cycles of boom and bust, rising political tensions portend another rebellion, and the President increasingly abuses his own power. By novel’s end, “the new Africa” appears dangerously unstable.

Dislocation

Nearly all of the characters in the novel suffer from feelings of dislocation. Some of these characters have been geographically displaced from their homes, and some feel alienated from the cultures they grew up in. Others have a mixed ethnic or racial heritage that makes them perpetually out of place. Salim, the novel’s protagonist, suffers from more than one kind of dislocation. As an Asian who grew up in Africa, he cannot fully lay claim to his Indian heritage nor does he feel an authentic connection to Africa. In addition to this cultural form of dislocation, Salim becomes geographically displaced when he moves from his community on the East African coast to the town in the continental interior. As a result of these different, overlapping forms of dislocation, Salim experiences confusion about his identity and his social and political status. A perpetual outsider, he struggles with anxiety and depression, and as the novel progresses, he feels increasingly worried about political violence.

The necessity of carrying on

In response to the cycles of boom and bust that repeatedly beset the town, its citizens understand the necessity of carrying on in the face of challenge. The novel most closely associates the phrase “carry on” with Salim’s friend Mahesh. For Mahesh, the phrase communicates the basic tactic that has allowed him to survive numerous political firestorms and rebel uprisings. Salim adopts Mahesh’s motto for himself, and though he also understands it as strategy for survival, Salim’s version of “carrying on” tends toward passivity. Whereas Mahesh carries on by actively seeking out new entrepreneurial ventures, Salim carries on by allowing his circumstances to remain unchanged. Others characters embody the principle of “carrying on” in the face of difficulty, with similarly divergent results. Like Mahesh, Nazruddin always seeks out new opportunities, moving himself and his family from country to country in pursuit of his next business venture. Indar learns to avoid grief and carry on by rejecting his past and reinventing himself as a globe-trotting intellectual. And yet, like Salim, Indar ultimately retreats from the world, surviving quietly in his dramatically diminished circumstances.