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Illustrated portrait of Nazruddin

A character in A Bend in the River

Nazruddin

The older trader Salim admires, whose moves through Africa, Canada, and London make mobility look successful and restless.

What they want in The novel's account

To stay ahead of decline by moving his business and family toward the next plausible future.

The book

Cover of A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul
A Bend in the RiverV. S. Naipaul, 1979

An uprooted merchant tries to build a life in a newly independent African country where property, status, and safety can vanish overnight.

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At a glance

Relationship
Mentor and Kareisha's father
Places
East Africa, Uganda, Canada, and London
Key action
Sells the shop to Salim

Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Nazruddin sells Salim the inland shop and serves as his model of worldly commercial judgment. He appears able to recognize where opportunity is moving and relocate before one setting closes around him.

His later path through Uganda, Canada, and London complicates that admiration. Repeated movement can look like independence, but it also means no country has provided permanent security.

How the book draws them

Appearance, manner, and tone — as the book sketches them, in our words.

  • Experienced merchantSalim values his opinions about property and markets.
  • Deliberately mobileEach move is strategic and evidence of another unsettled home.
  • Model for SalimSelling the shop creates the path around which the novel is built.
  • Family plannerKareisha's education forms part of his search for security.
  • Success followed by another moveUganda, Canada, and London keep repeating the same search in different forms.
  • Offers a marriage futureHis London household gives Salim a route toward Kareisha and a more settled life.
The future he offers SalimHow the book leaves them, what happened after, and what the record says. Open when you're ready.

Nazruddin connects Salim formally with Kareisha in London. The arrangement offers settlement, but Salim returns to the river town before accepting it completely.

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