CIVIL PEACE

Chinua Achebe (1930-) is a Nigerian

novelist and poet.

one of the most widely read authors of
the 20th century.

He was a diplomat in the short-lived
Biafran government.

His work is primarily interested in African
politics, the depiction of Africa and
Africans in the West.
THE AUTHOR
THE AUTHOR
Achebes greatest work is Things Fall Apart,
which considers the effects of colonisation on
the Igbo society.

It has been translated into over 50 languages.

Achebe is also known for his critique of Joseph
Conrads Heart of Darkness, famously
describing Conrad as a bloody racist.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran war lasted from 1967
to 1970.

One of the major ethnic groups in the country, the Igbo people, seceded
and formed the Republic of Biafra.

They were basically besieged and starved into submission by the
Nigerian forces, leading to claims of genocide.

Johnathan Iwegbu is clearly one of the Igbo people, and he may have
been caught in the besieged areas, so he has every reason to be
pleased that so many of his family have survived.
Third person narrator.
NARRATION
SETTING
Historical angle...
Nigeria, 1970.
The Igbo (Biafran) part of the country.

Right after the war, and everyone in this part of the
country is destitute and has suffered great losses

The setting of Civil Peace is Enugu, the former capital
of Biafra (eastern Nigeria) and the surrounding
countryside.

The most important aspects that define both settings
are not the physical geography but the human
geography.

Both settings are populated with official functionaries
and neighbors.

These two groups provide a sort of economic
protectionfor the Iwegbu family makes their living from
thembut fail to provide any physical protection. In both
the countryside and the city, the Iwegbus carry out
business dealings. While living in the countryside
outside of Enugu, Maria barters with camp officials for
needed goods, and Jonathan is able to earn money by
taxiing them and their families to the nearest tarred
road. Soldiers and other ''lucky people'' are some of the
few Nigerians with money, and in Enugu, the family is
able to earn money by selling mangoes to the soldiers'
wives and homemade food to neighbors in a hurry to
start life again, and by opening a bar that caters
primarily to soldiers.








Both settings are populated with official functionaries and
neighbors.

These two groups provide a sort of economic protectionfor the
Iwegbu family makes their living from thembut fail to provide any
physical protection.

In both the countryside and the city, the Iwegbus carry out business
dealings.

While living in the countryside outside of Enugu, Maria barters with
camp officials for needed goods, and Jonathan is able to earn
money by taxiing them and their families to the nearest tarred road.

Soldiers and other ''lucky people'' are some of the few Nigerians
with money, and in Enugu, the family is able to earn money by
selling mangoes to the soldiers' wives

And homemade food to neighbors in a hurry to start life again,
and by opening a bar that caters primarily to soldiers
The Iwegbus live within a community where people know each
other
but fail to care about its welfare.
On the morning after the robbery, the neighbours and others
assembled to commiserate'' with the family, and Jonathan regards
them as his "sympathizers.
" Still, these people failed to respond to the alarm the night before.
was able to hear ''all the neighbourhood noises die down one after
another.
'' In their selfish actions, these neighbors define the setting of the
Iwegbu's home in Enugu, which is most likely representative of the
settings in other communities within the city.




THEME
Nothing puzzles God.
Subject: Loss, survival, optimism, resourcefulness...

Theme suggestions:
Always look on the bright side of life.
If life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
God helps those who help themselves.
IRONY
The irony of the story lies first and foremost in the
way Jonathan responds to the terrible things that
happen to him. His response is so completely
different from what we would expect, that it becomes
ironic (attitudinal irony).

He loses a child in the war, but focuses completely on
the fact that the other members of his family survived.

He is robbed by a gang of thieves but doesnt really
mind, hes just happy he only lost some money, even
if it was a lot of money.
LITERARY DEVICES
POINT OF VIEW
The story is told from the third-person point of view.

All the events in the story are filtered through Jonathan's eyes and thoughts.
Because of this point of view, the reader is better able to comprehend the unfailing
optimism with which Jonathan regards the world and his circumstances.
DIALOGUE
: Achebe uses dialogue with great discretion in "Civil Peace
.Eg: " In the early sections of the story, only two phrases of
dialogue are presented, both of which support Jonathan's
optimism:
"Happy survival!" and "Nothing puzzles God."
DRAMA
: In Chinua Achebe, C. L. Innes suggested,

"The second half of this story, the account of the robbery, suggests that

Achebe might well if he so wished, prove a dramatist."
DIALECT

THE VERBAL EXCHANGE ALSO STARKLY CONTRASTS THE BROKEN ENGLISH
SPOKEN BY THE THIEVES AND THE PROPER ENGLISH SPOKEN BY JONATHAN.


IMAGERY - THEY HAVE USED IMAGERY TO FORM MENTAL IMAGES
IN THE
READER'S HEAD, USING LANGUAGES TO EXPRESSED
SOME
PARTICULAR PERSON, ACTION OR OBJECT INVOLVED IN
THE ACTION.
LANGUAGE - USING LANGUAGES TO EXPRESSED SOME PARTICULAR PERSON,
ACTION OR
OBJECT INVOLVED IN THE ACTION.

METAPHOR - AN IMPLIED ANALOGY TO THE PERSON'S MIND, MAKING A
COMPARISON TO
OTHER PEOPLE,
AND
ALSO TO TWIST THE MEANING OF THE WORD.