Civil Peace

Achebe uses colorful local imagery to paint a picture of postwar Nigeria. He describes the disheveled appearance of a soldier who demands Jonathan’s bicycle as dressed in “disreputable rags […] the toes peeping out of one blue and one brown canvas shoes […] the two stars of his rank done obviously in a hurry in biro” (82). When Jonathan finds his house needs fixing, he collects “bits of old zinc and wood and soggy sheets of cardboard” to refurbish it (83). Achebe employs visual imagery of the children picking mangoes and his wife making Akara balls. After the robbery, he uses kinesthetic imagery when Jonathan loads the “five-gallon demijohn to his bicycle carrier” and a combination of olfactory, tactile, and visual imagery to show Maria making Akara balls, this time “in a wide clay bowl of boiling oil” (88). The imagery provides the reader with a sense of time and place. The physical ruin around them contrasts with their relatively intact emotional lives. Although one of their sons died due to the conflict and Jonathan lost his job, the Iwegbu family seems close and functional. They support each other and share the work of rebuilding their lives. The imagery thus highlights the story’s theme of Resilience and Industry. Much of the city and their lives are in rubble, yet they move steadily and cooperatively toward a better future.

Achebe begins the story by describing how Jonathan survived the war with five blessings: “his head, his wife Maria’s head, and the heads of three out of their four children” (82). Here, Achebe uses a synecdoche—a figure of speech where a part is made to represent the whole. The head represents each member of the family.

He employs a metaphor to describe Jonathan’s ex-gratia reward as the “day of the windfall” (84). Later, the thief is referred to as a “heartless ruffian.” He then employs similes when Jonathan says, “It was like Christmas” (84). Toward the end of the story, when the thieves knock on his door, Jonathan’s throat “felt like sandpaper” (87). The story’s figurative language complements its imagery. Throughout, Achebe uses vivid ideas and images to convey the concrete details and challenges of life in postwar Nigeria. His language use emphasizes the themes of Civil War and Recovery as well as the Iwegbu family’s Resilience and Industry.

The story features the repetition of the philosophical proverb: “Nothing puzzles God” (82). Jonathan’s unflinching faith anchors him throughout his adversities, offering him spiritual support to accept the fluctuating moral order in postwar Nigeria. Indeed, Jonathan’s “happy survival” is bolstered by his faith in God, which offers him hope and optimism to face the despair and devastation of war (82).

His belief system is based on gratitude to God. He is grateful that he lost only one child while the rest of the family survived, grateful for his bicycle, and grateful his house is still standing amidst the rubble of war. His gratitude fuels his optimism to work hard and rebuild his life. Every time Jonathan faces adversity, he reveals his gratitude and optimism. Jonathan believes God’s grace and blessings will carry him through difficult times.

His faith keeps him honest and hard-working, unlike the thieves who chose another path to survive. Achebe suggests that a relationship with a higher power is a positive element in Jonathan’s life. His faith and optimism enable him to be part of the post-civil war solution and stability in rebuilding Nigeria.