Chinua Achebe’s Short Story “Civil Peace” Summary

University:
Eastern Kentucky University
Course:
ENG 212 | Survey of World Literature II
Academic year:

2022
Views:

143

Pages:

1
Author:

Shyanne Johnson

Chinua Achebe’s short story “Civil Peace” Summary Chinua Achebe’s “Civil Peace” is a short story about life in Nigeria after the civil war. The main character Jonathan has survived the Civil War along with his wife, two of his children and his bicycle. Life is very hard after the war but he is grateful to have been able to still be alive with his family and still have his bicycle because things could have been worse. He even had a home to go back to that was still in good condition despite the little damage and for that “nothing puzzles God.” We have seen throughout history that after a war things change and times get rough especially when it is a civil war meaning people of that nation against themselves. It is not easy to bounce back from any war much less a civil war because now everyone is going to struggle to survive. This is what played out in Civil Peace. Jonathan tries to find a way to make money for his family by using his bicycle as a taxi (pg 2838). His children would pick food and sell it and his wife would cook breakfast and sell it. He was able to accumulate enough money that was summed up to 20 pounds. Jonathan was happy even though that was not a lot of money but at least he had something that many others don’t have after the civil war. He tried to protect the money so he could make it home with the money and not be robbed but unfortunately he still ended up getting robbed. This is sad because he can’t even trust his neighbors enough to tell them about the money because he fears they will rob him. Normally after a civil war no one trust each other. Each man is for themselves because they were just fighting against each other so everyone will be on the lookout for that one neighbor that is waiting to betray them. Everyone will do what they have to do to survive even if that means robbing their neighbors of the little fortune that the neighbors have because they have nothing. It is hard to live in a society like this because you may never know what will happen, who is waiting to betray you or set you up. Since no one can trust each other it creates tension even though these people should be in a time of “civil peace” after the civil war. This is a major disadvantage of civil war. It shouldn’t be this way but more like a way to bring about positive change after fighting for that change against your neighbors who see otherwise. Sadly in reality after a civil war this is what happens. We are put in a place where we can no longer trust our neighbors because they had no problem fighting and killing us so imagine what else they would do. This makes it hard for a country to become unified again. The tension never leaves. It might cool down but it is still in the back of our heads as a warning and a reminder.