Civil Peace

A detailed Summary of Civil Peace


In the short story Civil Peace by Chinua Achebe the theme that caught my attention after reading it several times, to me anyway, is about life and how nothing else in the world compares to it, not money, not anything. Also how every person no matter who you are has ups and downs. This is a story as old as time itself, and is definitely worth repeating. What leads me to believe this are the opening and closing paragraphs of the story.

When the story begins the author Achebe chooses to start it off with Jonathan Iwegbu counting his blessings. "Happy survival.... He had come out of the war with five inestimable blessings-his head, his wife Maria's head, and the heads of three of their four children. As a bonus he also had his old bicycle". I believe the reader gets a little incite to what the theme is based upon especially after the story is read a couple of times. He is basically saying how material things are not that important, even though he is just getting back from war. He still maintains a positive outlook on his life and he still has his family and his bike. One thing that seemed odd to me when I first read the story was


As the story is coming to a close he winds up getting robbed. This is an example of his life being on a down at that time, but he doesn't give up. In the last paragraph after being robbed and being forced to give up his money for the life of his family he says, "I count it as nothing...what is egg-rasher? Did I depend on it last week? Or is it greater than other things that went with the war? I say, let egg-rasher perish in the flames! Let it go where everything else has gone. Nothing puzzles god". This reminds me of the cliche everything happens for a reason. Everything was going so well for him his house was standing, he was making good money being a taxi with his bike. I also feel that Jonathan looks at it that way also. He says let the egg rasher perish in anger, but then he says nothing puzzles god right after it, kind of like everything happens for a reason.

I can also see how this can be a classical example of the consequences of greed, especially in the middle of the story he clinches his fist around the twenty pounds he received that day, and avoids eye contact with anyone because he feared interaction with

Some common words found in the essay are:
Jonathan Iwegbu, Chinua Achebe, , puzzles god, happens reason, couple times, makes jonathan, story couple, reason sometimes, life family,

Approximate Word count = 772
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

join now Save Paper

Related Essays

  • Civil War in Lebanon ... Wanting nothing but peace and an end to the civil war, a joint SyrianLebanese military operation crushed any parties with opposing views. ... 980 words
  • civil affair ... that peace was needed. Peace was finally reached and the civil war in El Salvador finally ended. Throughout the duration of the ... 1363 words
  • Abroad operations of US Army ... or wrong decision is. It is not the United States responsibility to make peace in a country at civil war. It is the nationsamp39 that ... 607 words
  • Abroad operations of US Army ... or wrong decision is. It is not the United States responsibility to make peace in a country at civil war. It is the nationsamp39 that ... 607 words
  • American Armyamp39s Abroad Actions ... or wrong decision is. It is not the United States responsibility to make peace in a country at civil war. It is the nationsamp39 that ... 606 words

Professional Essays

  • Lebanon ... The state was often not even able to perform the minimal tasks expected of it, namely the levying of taxes and imposition of civil peace: the fiscal system ... 2440 words
  • Tragic Elements in Romeo ampamp Juliet ... which in Elizabethan times was highly relevant, and which in the playamp39s Italian setting was, or in the recent past had been, supremely important: civil peace. ... 6180 words
  • Aftermath of the Bosnian Civil War ... They put an end to outright warfare and mass war crimes in Bosnia. They did not, however, succeed in fully establishing a condition of true civil peace. ... 9299 words
  • Peace and NationStates ... institutions and interactions, adequately strong and widespread to ensure a stable peace among members ... Within a single nation, that would mean no civil wars. ... 2050 words
  • US Civil War ... Morale began to drop, just as the economy and agricultural output began to drop. Peace societies began to crop up. ... 2003 point out, the Civil War in the ... 1433 words
  • The Roman Empire ... disagreeable consequences. Territorial acquisition itself appears to have been a strategy for keeping the civil peace. But as Rome ... 4943 words


Saved Paper

Save your papers so you can locate them quickly!

Newest Essays

Testimonials

  • "Thank You So Much!!! You have saved me once again!!!"
    Jack M.
  • "With so many papers to chose from, I was able to get ideas to help me with all of my classes. Thank You!"
    Brian P.
  • "I've used this site for the last 3 years to help me come up with ideas for my papers."
    Sara J.
  • "I use this site every week to help me write my own papers!"
    Rachel W.
  • "I love this site!!!"
    Marie N.
Home Join Now Support
Acceptable Use Policy About us FAQ
All papers are for research and reference purposes only!
© 2002-2009 DirectEssays.com. All Rights Reserved.