Civil Peace

747 Words3 Pages
Learn to Rely on Yourself, Not Others Chinua Achebe’s short story, Civil Peace, has a variety of themes throughout the text. One them in particular that is present on every single page is the ability to rely on yourself. Relying on yourself means being self sufficient and independent, not being dependent upon something or someone else. In the story, the Nigerian War had just come to a close, and the communities in the area are suffering from having very little money. People are stealing from each other because they are desperate for money, especially in Ogui Overside, where Jonathan Iwegbu lived. Jonathan Iwegbu, the protagonist in the story, is forced into a situation where he must become independent from everyone else. This theme is supported…show more content…
Everyone must scrounge for any items that are necessary for survival. After the war, Iwegbu returns with his wife and three children to find his house is still there, but missing some important parts. Iwegbu must find the parts needed to fix the house, as well as the money to pay for the parts, and for someone to actually fix it. He must do all of this by himself. Money is a rare necessity at this time, Achebe states, “He [Iwegbu] got a destitute carpenter with one old hammer, a blunt plane and a few bent and rusty nails in his tool bag….” (360). This statement shapes the idea that the carpenter, and others, are not getting paid well. Carpenters typically have more tools than just a hammer, nails, and a plane. They have screws, a screwdriver, a measuring stick, a square, etc. The carpenter in the short story only has old and dirty tools, and is only getting paid 50 Biafran pounds, which is not a lot. Iwegbu does not have a lot of money himself. He had to ferry people between the community and the closest road to earn even a little bit of…show more content…
He also sold palm wine out of the bar in his house. The people that could buy this wine were soldiers and lucky people with money. This pretty much guaranteed Iwegbu an income of some sort. The other way people could earn money is if they received an “egg-rasher,” payment, from the Treasury. This usually allotted to around 20 pounds, and would be stolen within a matter of minutes after receiving it. Iwegbu received one of these payments, but he knew of the dangers of people stealing them. He hid it in his pocket as soon as he got it in his hand. Iwegbu got home and put the egg-rasher in his locked box right before going to sleep. Money is a big part of being self reliant. If you can make your own money, you are one step closer to being truly independent. During the same night Iwegbu received the money, the police and neighbors all went to sleep and paid no attention to any of the crimes that were occurring. The thieves knew this when they went to rob Jonathan. They even went so far as to call the police themselves, “Police-o! Thieves-o! Neighbors’o! we done loss-o! Police-o!...” (362) This shows that there was no aid available for anyone. The officers neglected their duties to focus on their own things, like sleeping. They should have been doing their duty, but they were also relying on themselves by doing what they were. Jonathan had to try to find a way out
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