Salim’s customer from a remote village. Yet he has been accused of being a "neo-colonialist", and in this novel post-colonial Africa is depicted as spiralling into a kind of Hell. For instance, he left English-language school when he was 16, not because he wasn't bright or motivated, but because no one in his family had attended school beyond 16. Ferdinand’s outlook and personality change throughout each of these phases of his life, and Salim sees these changes as reflecting the development of “the new African.”. A Belgian priest. Salim sees Ildephonse as eager to please his boss but otherwise vacant. The narrator and protagonist. Zabeth is one of Salim’s first and most loyal customers. Salim, the protagonist, is alone in his new village by choice. Performance & security by Cloudflare, Please complete the security check to access. Ildephonse is a young African man who works in Mahesh and Shoba’s house as a live-in servant and later becomes the unofficial “manager” of Mahesh’s Bigburger branch. He finds the town and his store a mess. Read an Nazruddin has long been a friend of Salim’s family. Salim finds her a canny businesswoman and marvels at her resilience and no-nonsense attitude. The narrator and protagonist. Salim grew up in a family of merchants among the ethnic Indian community on the East African coast. As such, he tends to situate himself as a detached observer, forever watching what’s happening without fully taking part in it. She sensibly trained as a pharmacist to ensure that she would have a job wherever her family might move next. Your IP: 3.105.250.197 Once every month she makes the arduous and dangerous journey from her remote village to the town, where she makes purchases on behalf of her community. everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of A Bend in the River. Mahesh and Shoba’s houseboy. He begins to worry about his family's position and aspirations. If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware. Though he was raised in luxury, Indar’s family lost its wealth and influence in a rebellion that raged along the coast upon independence. Fearing imminent violence as nations throughout Africa gained independence, Salim relocated to a former colonial town in an unnamed nation in the continent’s interior. After finishing, he attends the polytechnic institute at the nearby Domain, then moves to the capital for an administrative cadetship. Nazruddin’s daughter. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Despite his entrepreneurial drive and his frequent insistence on the need to “carry on,” Mahesh’s reluctance to imagine a different kind of life for himself belies an ultimately defeatist attitude. He is an observer and an analyzer. Father Huismans, who runs the local secondary school, is a relic of the colonial past. SparkNotes is brought to you by Barnes & Noble. in-depth analysis of Raymond. He is of Muslim Indian descent, although his family has lived in coastal Africa for generations. Like Salim, Mahesh is an ethnic Indian who has lived in Africa all his life.