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Mahesh
Zabeth is a marchande and shaman from one of the local bush villages who is Salim’s first regular customer. Zabeth is large with coppery skin, unlike the other people of her tribe, and comes across as wary and intelligent. The people of the town describe her as a magician or a “prophetess” for her clarity and foresight, noting how she uses a balm with a pungent smell to ward off danger in the villages and along her dangerous journey up and down the river to trade with Salim. Zabeth is illiterate but carries the needs and sums for her village completely in her head, and Salim is impressed by her capability and business savvy. Zabeth sends her son Ferdinand to school at the lycée in town, wanting to give him opportunity and perspective outside of “the timeless ways of town and river,” and asks Salim to watch over him. Over time, her visits wane as uprisings and unrest makes the bush increasingly dangerous. It is Zabeth on one of her final visits who points out the President’s tactics in his imagery and appropriation of the customs of the bush, calling his power hollow and explaining to Salim how he used Raymond as a fetish to soak up all the bad things that follow him. She also predicts the collapse of the town and the government, calling Salim foolish for staying, and fearing for what might befall Ferdinand as he rises up the ranks.
Zabeth Quotes in A Bend in the River
The A Bend in the River quotes below are all either spoken by Zabeth or refer to Zabeth . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
It was as a lycée boy that Ferdinand came to the shop. He wore the regulation white shirt and short white trousers. It was a simple but distinctive costume; and—though the short trousers were a little absurd on someone so big—the costume was important both to Ferdinand and to Zabeth. Zabeth lived a purely African life; for her only Africa was real. But for Ferdinand she wished something else. I saw no contradiction; it seemed to me natural that someone like Zabeth, living such a hard life, should want something better for her son. This better life lay outside the timeless ways of village and river. It lay in education and the acquiring of new skills; and for Zabeth, as for many Africans of her generation, education was something only foreigners could give.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14
Quotes
She didn’t see the photograph as a photograph; she didn’t interpret distance and perspective. She was concerned with the actual space occupied in the printed picture by different figures […] only the visiting foreigners were given equal space with the President. With local people the President was always presented as a towering figure… “He is killing those men, Salim. They are screaming inside, and he knows they’re screaming. And you know, Salim, that isn’t a fetish he’s got there. It’s nothing… that’s nothing… He’s got a man, and this man goes ahead of him wherever he goes. This man jumps out of the car before the car stops and everything that is bad for the President follows this man and leaves the President free… The man who jumps out and gets lost in the crowd is white.”
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Zabeth Quotes in A Bend in the River
The A Bend in the River quotes below are all either spoken by Zabeth or refer to Zabeth . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
It was as a lycée boy that Ferdinand came to the shop. He wore the regulation white shirt and short white trousers. It was a simple but distinctive costume; and—though the short trousers were a little absurd on someone so big—the costume was important both to Ferdinand and to Zabeth. Zabeth lived a purely African life; for her only Africa was real. But for Ferdinand she wished something else. I saw no contradiction; it seemed to me natural that someone like Zabeth, living such a hard life, should want something better for her son. This better life lay outside the timeless ways of village and river. It lay in education and the acquiring of new skills; and for Zabeth, as for many Africans of her generation, education was something only foreigners could give.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14
Quotes
She didn’t see the photograph as a photograph; she didn’t interpret distance and perspective. She was concerned with the actual space occupied in the printed picture by different figures […] only the visiting foreigners were given equal space with the President. With local people the President was always presented as a towering figure… “He is killing those men, Salim. They are screaming inside, and he knows they’re screaming. And you know, Salim, that isn’t a fetish he’s got there. It’s nothing… that’s nothing… He’s got a man, and this man goes ahead of him wherever he goes. This man jumps out of the car before the car stops and everything that is bad for the President follows this man and leaves the President free… The man who jumps out and gets lost in the crowd is white.”
