Character sketch Salim

Salim, the novel’s narrator and protagonist, grew up in a family of merchants among
an ethnic Indian community on the East African coast. Fearing imminent violence
that might destroy his home community, Salim relocated to a former colonial town in
an unnamed nation in the continent’s interior. There he spends his days operating a
modest trading shop, playing squash, and occasionally visiting a local nightclub.
Salim sees himself as a perpetual outsider, never fully belonging to the Muslim
community of India from whence his family came and yet never quite African either.
As such, he situates himself as a detached observer, forever watching what’s
happening around him without fully taking part in it. In addition to reflecting his
confused personal identity, Salim’s detachment from the world contributes to his
profound sense of insecurity. Unable to connect well with others, Salim feels
isolated, frequently succumbs to self-pity, and easily loses himself in anxious
thoughts about his uncertain future. Although Salim envisions himself as someone
who will eventually succeed, his fears and insecurities paralyze him and keep him
from making any significant progress in his life.

Broadly speaking, Salim feels suspended between African and European civilizations. A
Bend in the River takes place in the years following the end of European imperialism when
newly formed African nations took their first independent steps. As a foreigner who grew up
under European colonialism and now lives in independent Africa, Salim has been influenced
by both civilizations. Yet his upbringing and personal history have generally predisposed him
to disparage Africa and privilege Europe. Growing up in an ethnically exclusive Indian
community that frowned on racial mixing, Salim developed an anti-African bias from an early
age. Salim’s Eurocentric bias also developed at an early age, when European material
goods like books and images helped affirm his Indian identity. Over the course of the novel,
Salim grows increasingly suspicious of both civilizations. Talk at the Domain about “the new
Africa” strikes him as dangerously detached from the real Africa. At the same time, the
Europeans he meets at the Domain ultimately disappoint him, and when he travels to
London to visit Nazruddin, he only finds yet more desperation. Ultimately, there is no
promise that Salim will find more fulfilment even if he does finally manage to abandon Africa
for a new life in Europe.