Between ideals and survival: How A Bend in the River explores the ethical dilemmas of migration

Abstract

Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was a renowned novelist who won the Man Booker Prize for the work titled In a Free State in the year 1971 and the most sought-after Nobel Prize in literature in 2001. His works primarily revolve around issues such as rootlessness and identity crisis that are faced by the Indian diaspora settled in different parts of the world. Naipaul is famous for his straightforward way of putting forth his opinions and is greatly revered across the globe. While going through the works penned by the Nobel Laureate, readers can easily connect with the characters. The protagonist of the novel titled A Bend in the River is Salim, who belongs to the Western part of Africa and settles in the inner part of an African town where he establishes a shop in order to start a new life. Since the country is suffering the scourge of political turmoil, Salim takes the decision of settling abroad. Unfortunately, the friend with whom Salim intended to become a partner in business suffers heavy losses and again, the former is forced to go back to Africa. He is greatly pained to see that the new government has forcibly taken the control of his shop and has given the ownership to a person named Theotime. Theotime makes Salim do all kinds of menial jobs, which deals a severe blow to the self-esteem of the protagonist. He once again, furthers his resolve to settle abroad. For achieving the aim of gathering money to migrate to some other country, Salim starts smuggling Ivory and Gold. It must be noted here that whatever the protagonist is doing in the form of smuggling, is nothing but an example of expediency. He firmly believes in the philosophy “Ends justify the means” propounded by Niccolo Machiavelli. Salim is hell bent at getting out of a country where he sees no hope but only anarchy and chaos. It is the circumstances which have forced Salim to indulge in illegal activities. One day, he is arrested by the local Police and is sent to jail, where luckily, one of his acquaintances named Ferdinand gets him released. The novel culminates in Salim escaping from the country by secretly boarding a steamer. For a person like Salim, goals are more important than ideals. According to him, one should and must resort to any means for attaining his goals. If one is too idealistic or scrupulous then it will be extremely difficult for him to survive. Thus, A Bend in the River successfully throws light on the complexities and adversities of an outsider’s life who moves from one place to another expecting something good to turn up but is troubled by fiascoes every time.