Time and Ferdinand

This book is concerned with the idea of time passing, the future and the past, in relation to the small village in Africa at the bend in the river.  Time seems to not exist for some people, and to be working against others.  On page 65 it is said that Father Huisman “saw himself at the end of it all, the last, lucky witness” (Naipaul).  He is then killed a little while later, and his love for Africa is mocked.  He believed that he was a master of time since he was able to travel to the bush and collect “primitive artwork” as the American who eventually takes it refers to it. 

            The motto for the school translates to “always something new” which is interesting because for all of the tribal traditions, this book is proving that the people of Africa are living in a constantly changing world.  They do not know who to fear or what to be.  Ferdinand is an excellent example of this since he does not really belong in this town.  He is separated from his mother’s village and his father’s so he puts on different acts trying to fit in.  Salim comments that his brain is jumbled, describing it as something quite similar to how he described his shop where he sells many different things in a chaotic manner, yet he always knows where everything is.  Ferdinand is learning how to organize his jumbled identity.  Ferdinand also becomes confused when it comes to time and “ideas of the past were confused with ideas of the present” (Naipaul 48).  This boy, the son of Zabeth who lives outside of time as Salim thinks of it, cannot become his own person until he stops trying to act as someone else.