Civil Peace

(Historical Approach)

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 AUTHORThe 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 PerspectiveThe 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.narrationSettingHistorical 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 soldiersThe 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.ThemeNothing 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.IronyThe 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 devicesPoint of viewThe 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."dialectThe 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.