Question:(1):
Sketch out the character of the Big Man, the President of Africa in the light
of the novel “A Bend in the River” by V. S. Naipaul.
Answer: “A Bend
in the River” is a novel by V. S. Naipaul based on the
post-colonial theme that implies the domination of the colonisers prevailing
although they departed from Africa long ago. The
President, Big Man’s activities bear the testimony of a coloniser
although he is an African. His ambivalent attitude makes him a completed
character in the novel. He is responsible for all the chaos, disorders and corruption
in the life of the innocent Africans.
After the independence of Africa, the Big Man, comes into power and becomes the
President of Africa in a dishonest way. Soon after that, he decides to drive
away all the non-African inhabitants from Africa
to rebuild a new one. So according to his desire, there is a decree to vandalise
all the monuments, pedestals, roads, floodlights that bear the evidence of the
colonisers and the names of all the main streets are removed. The purpose of
such vandalism lies in the line below:
“The wish had only been to get rid of the old, to wipe
out the memory of the intruder.”
It is a foolish act on his part.
Afterwards, the site looks like the site of a dead civilisation. As soon as the
drive of Africanisation commences, all the diasporic characters of the novel
become very worried about their future and much concerned about safe staying
there in Africa.
Although the Big Man is the
president of the newly born Africa, he is in a
constant threat in his position. He does not allow anyone to surplus him in
quality, power and experience. So whenever he discovers any sign of it in
anyone, either he makes him killed or removes him from his position. Such kind
of jealousy is traceable in his appointing the soldiers in bringing peace and
stability in the rebellious groups of Africa.
He keeps on changing them on a regular basis. Such is the method of him as:
“…. he gave his men power and authority,
but he never allowed them to settle in anywhere and
become local kings.”
He does the same with Raymond, an
advisor to the President. When he is important to him, he keeps him but when
Raymond’s necessity to him runs out, he casts him away. Because of such nature
of the President, Zabeth is concerned about his son, Ferdinand who is
going to be appointed by him.
Ambivalence is a term that implies a
continual fluctuation between wanting one and wanting its opposite. However, the
Big Man is very ambivalent in his attitude. He openly says that he hates
the colonisers but he is just following them keenly to educate the Africans. To
serve the purpose, he has created the New Domain, a university city and a research centre
facilitated with all the modern equipment. He thinks that he is creating a
miracle that would astound the rest of the world and therefore, for the
institution, he appoints researchers, professors, lecturers, engineers and
educationists from Europe. That is to say,
without Europe neither the Big Man nor Africa
would be able to survive.
The Big Man is a president of
different kind. He expects his picture to be larger in size. So when there are
magazines and posters printed in Europe, his
picture towers all other people among them and all the pictures of his
subordinates must be printed in smaller size. It symbolises that he is superior
to all other people in Africa but the readers
know that he is corrupt. In addition to that:
“Everywhere the president’s photograph looked down at
us.
In the town, in our shops and in government buildings,
it was just the photograph of the president.”
Towards the end of the novel, in the
section “The Battle”, almost all the diasporic characters feel it
insecure for them to live there any more on learning about the President’s new program of ‘Radicalisation’ they
leave Africa except few to save their lives. So does Salim but when he
returns he has lost everything because his property is given to a state
trustee.
To conclude the discussion, we can
examine the comment of Raymond on the President as he is the great African
chief and he is also the man of the people. He is the modernizer and he is also
the African who has rediscovered his African soul. He is constructive,
revolutionary and everything but the readers understand it that the Big Man
is corrupt and does everything for his personal benefits.
Md. Saiful Alam
B. A. Honours and M. A. in English
Lecturer of English
Queen’s College, Dhaka
E-mail: suman64924@gmail.com
My affectionate Readers,
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suggestion regarding my writings will be largely appreciated and valued and you can ask me any grammatical questions regarding English.
I promise I would try my level best to assist you, all. Thank you very much.
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