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Salim Character A Bend in The River

Salim falls in love with Yvette, a French woman visiting the town. Their relationship has a profound effect on Salim. Politics and the autocratic rule of "The Big Man" are also explored, showing how power is concentrated and civil freedoms are lost. By the end of the novel, Salim undergoes a transformation and recognizes that his future in the town is uncertain. He leaves on a steamer that is attacked by rebels during the night.

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1K views

Salim Character A Bend in The River

Salim falls in love with Yvette, a French woman visiting the town. Their relationship has a profound effect on Salim. Politics and the autocratic rule of "The Big Man" are also explored, showing how power is concentrated and civil freedoms are lost. By the end of the novel, Salim undergoes a transformation and recognizes that his future in the town is uncertain. He leaves on a steamer that is attacked by rebels during the night.

Uploaded by

n201312
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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"A Bend in the River’’

The Town's Transformation: The town now develops into a trading centre for the region. Government
agencies spring up. European salesmen and visitors arrive. Salim's friends Mahesh and Shoba
become successful with their new Bigburger franchise. The new army arrives, "poachers of ivory and
thieves of gold".[4] Portraits of the President, "the Big Man", are displayed everywhere. A new section
of town is built, the "State Domain". to showcase the President's vision of a new Africa. The Domain
is soon converted into a university and conference centre.

His Love Interest: Salim falls in love with Yvette, a French woman who has come to the town.
Salim becomes obsessed with Yvette, the wife of a white professor connected to Big Man, the first
real love of his life. Salim felt immediately attracted to Yvette. She wore a black silk dress and
proved much younger than he’d expected—she was thirty years younger than her husband,
who was in his fifties. Yvette came to Salim’s house. Instead of proceeding to the Hellenic Club,
they had sex. The experience had a profound effect on Salim, who’d only ever been intimate
with women in brothels. Salim felt his world narrowing as he grew more attached to and
emotionally dependent on Yvette. This narrowing made him feel increasingly obsessive.

Salim Face Politics and Power: Politics and power are key elements in the book as well. Through
the persona of "The Big Man," an autocratic ruler who appears in the town where Salim lives,
Naipaul explores the nature of political authority in postcolonial Africa. "The Big Man"
represents the concentration of power and the region's frequently repressive and corrupt
governmental systems. Naipaul examines the effects of unfettered power on people and
communities, showing how civil freedoms are lost and how oppressive conditions prevail in
authoritarian regimes.

Friendship: Selim's childhood friend. Inder, who grew up on the coast of East Africa, is the
grandson of a wealthy moneylender. Although he grew up in luxury, Inder's family lost its wealth
after independence. Salim’s friend and an entrepreneur. Like Salim, Mahesh is an ethnic Indian
who has lived in Africa all his life. Mahesh gets caught up easily in new money-making ideas,
and after several failed ventures (some illegal), he opens a successful branch of the Bigburger

*Internal Struggles* and marriage : Salim grapples with personal conflicts, torn between his desire for
success and the moral dilemmas he faces in a changing society. Salim and others saw a well-known
business business owner suddenly sold off his assets and left town, Salim and others understood that
the town's economic boom was coming to an end. Increasing violence perpetrated by the Liberation
Army led Salim to seek a way out of the country. He decided to travel to London to visit Nazruddin.
Salim heard about Nazruddin's problems and his failed business in Canada and his troubles in London.

The reality that so many individuals "like him" were fighting for survival. He learned from the experience
that it was best to accept reality as it is and to let go and home. Before he left London, Salim got
engaged to Nazruddin’s daughter, Kareisha.
Salim work as a manager: Salim returns to the town on the river to discover that the state has given
ownership of his shop to Théotime, a former mechanic and low-level official. Salim works in the shop as
the manager.

Character Transformation*: By the end of the novel, Salim's character undergoes a significant
transformation, Salim recognises that all is lost. Salim started trading illegally hidden some gold, ivory
on his property, but, betrayed by Metty, the police discovered Salim’s hidden cache of prohibited goods,
and when Salim refused to pay a bribe, they arrested him.

The Bend in the River*: The novel's title, "A Bend in the River," becomes a metaphor for Salim's life
journey. After days in jail, the arresting officer escorted Salim to see the commissioner, who happened
to be Zabeth’s son, Ferdinand. . Ferdinand tells him that there is no safety, no hope, and that everybody
is in fear of his life: He sets Salim free and tells him to leave the country as soon as possible. Salim takes
the last steamer before the President arrives. During the night there is a battle on the ship, as rebels try
to hijack it. Salim boarded the steamer and left.

Conclusion: The novel concludes with Salim's continued presence in the town, facing the uncertainties of
his future and the evolving African landscape.

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