Summary of Civil Peace by Chinua Achebe

Civil Peace is a short story written by one of the well known Nigerian authors Chinua Achebe. The story falls under the realistic story genre. The story presents the condition immediately after the Civil War. The short story narrates the civil war and its effect on the lives of ordinary Nigerians.

Civil Peace is a short realistic story written by a Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, which plots the condition after a civil war in Nigeria

Characters Overview

The narrator of the story introduces us to the following characters.

1. Jonathan Iwegbu: Jonathan Iwegbu is the main character in the story. He is the one who survived the Nigerian Civil war and considers himself a very lucky person.

2. Maria Iwegbu: Maria Iwegbu is the wife of Jonathan Iwegbu. She also survived herself along with her husband.

3. Jonathan's Children (4, out of which 3 survived)

4. Neighbours

5. Thief Leader

Civil Peace by Chinua Achebe Plot Summary

Jonathan Iwegbu considered himself very lucky after having survived the Nigerian Civil War, which had just ended. Along with him, his wife Maria Iwegbu and three of his four children also had survived the war with him. Not only had he survived the war with his family, he also managed to hold on to his old bicycle.

His neighbours used to greet one another “Happy Survival” after the war ended and he embraced the way they greet each other because of his luck.

Jonathan knew that his bike was nowhere as valuable as his family but keeping the bike was also one of the miracles for him. He had almost lost the bike during the war, when an army officer dressed in rags attempted to commandeer it. Sensing a certain lack of grip and firmness in his manner, Jonathan guessed that the officer might accept a bribe in exchange for the bike. After the army officer compiled, Jonathan buried the bike for safe keeping, where his son and other casualties from camp were interred.

Jonathan retrieved the bike after the war, which was in good condition. He smiled, feeling blessed with his good luck. He mused and said, “Nothing Puzzles God”. He then used the bike to start a taxi service, and accumulated a small amount of funds to return to his hometown, Enugu.

To his surprise, he encountered another miracle. His house was also there standing still. Though the house was samma and hand constructed from zinc, wood and cardboard, it had survived the Civil War, alongside Jonathan and his family. The bigger buildings nearby his house had been destroyed. Then he collected the materials to repair his small house and also hired a poor carpenter.

Soon then, he moved his family back to home and they returned to work. His children used to pick mangoes to sell to the soldiers' wives, while his wife used to make breakfast cakes and sell them to the neighbours. Jonathan himself opened a palm wine bar for soldiers and other rich people. He used to occasionally visit the coal corporation where he used to work before, but there was no sign of reopening.

After waiting days in line for turning in his rebel currency, Jonathan received 20 pounds from the government treasury. It was like Christmas for him and many like him. This was known as the ex - gratia award, which was provided as a gift. They used to call the ex-gratia money as egg-rasher money as they couldn't pronounce the word. Jonathan was very happy to receive the money but also was very nervous that he could lose that money. He was nervous because he had seen a robbery victim collapse, after he discovered his money had been pickpocketed. Jonathan then balled the bill in his fist and stuffed his fist into his pocket to save his award money. He then returned to his home, all the way keeping his eyes down to avoid running into someone on his way to home.

After reaching home, he remained anxious for the rest of the day and had trouble falling asleep that night. Finally he was able to sleep, but soon he woke up to the sound of someone knocking into his door. He asked who was knocking and the man identified himself as the thief.

Jonathan's wife Maria immediately screamed for hemp and Jonathan and his children also joined her and shouted to call the neighbours and the police. After a few moments of silence, they stopped. The thief leader then mockingly offered to help, leading his thief chorus into even louder cries for the help. Jonathan then realised that there were at least five other men with the leader. Having proven his point, nobody will come to help the family, the thief leader mockingly asked if he should call for the soldiers. Jonathan then told the leader not to bother them.

The thief leader then asked for 100 pounds and said that they won't hurt the family, if Jonathan will give them 100 pounds. Now the thief leader didn't want the civil war but instead wanted civil peace. Jonathan said that he only had 20 pounds and offered 20 pounds to the thief leader, however other men of the group insisted that he was lying and they searched the house. Then the leader silenced the other men and accepted 20 pounds.

Next morning of the incident, neighbours visited Jonathan and his family to express their sympathy. But the family was already engaged with their work as nothing had happened. Jonathan was strapping a wine jug to his bikes Maria was cooking breakfast cakes and his son was cleaning wine bottles. Then Jonathan told his neighbours that losing the award money (egg-rasher) money was nothing to him, as he had lost much more than that in the war. He ended the sentence by saying “Nothing Puzzles God”.

Theme of the story

The theme of the story Civil Peace by Chinua Achebe resembles the survival phase of the ordinary people after the Nigerian Civil War. The character Jonathan, represents one of the ordinary survivors, who has a sense of perseverance and finding hopes beside significant losses. The story highlights the impact of war, his survival and his luck and fate and the most importantly, what you sow is what ripens. He was a simple person, doing his duties and he had survived the war, with minimal losses so, he feels himself lucky and also knows that nothing puzzles god and everyone gets what they deserve.