A Bend in the River Units 1-4

In Units 1 through 4 of A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul, we are introduced to a mercantile shop runner named Mr. Salim. He is an Arabic man who grew up on the east coast of Africa in a Muslim family. He was given the shop by a man named Nazruddin, who wants Salim to marry his daughter, but Salim sees as an opportunity to break his "commitment." Salim has one regular customer named Zabeth, a sorceress who makes herself smell bad, and lives in a hidden village. Zabeth has a teenage son named Ferdinand who she sends to Salim, to get educated. While Salim is taking care of Ferdinand, he is taking care of boy named Metty from his own village. Salim tries to track down Father Huismans, the Christian priest who runs the local school, after Ferdinand steals a book. When he finally catches up to him, Father Huismans shows Salim his African masks he has "collected."

Naipaul begins the book by telling us, "The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it." The book is very philosophical, with most of the characters trying to find their identity and where they belong in a nation that is changing.

Salim shows the most ambition, telling us, "the greater the discouragements of the journey, the keener I was to press on and embrace my new life." He wants the boys in his care to be successful as well. Salim's overall philosophy is "detaching" himself "from a familiar scene and trying to consider if as from a distance," which he proves by observing the people who come in and out of his shop as a way for the reader to get to know the characters well.