Cultural/Historical Analysis-Civil Peace, Chinua Achebe

I think this story has great potential to be the subject of an historical and cultural analysis. The story is based on the Civil War in Nigeria. This fact provides lots of insight into this story. Facts about how people lived during this time and what happened can be very beneficial in learning the themes of this story. I think one of the themes is be thankful for what you have been given, which can be seen in the line that was repeated over and over. The line is "Nothing puzzles God." It would be interesting to find out how much religion played into the lives of those who lived in Nigeria during this time. Culture also plays a big role in this story. Family seems to be a big part of it and a belief in God also prevails. As far as clues in the story, it is very easy to see that a war has gone on, that people are not in good financial standing, the country is a mess, and many people have lost family members and belongings. All of these clues are important because they give you even more insight into the characters lives and allows you to read into the story more and understand the themes. I think one of the first things that should be researched are the war in Nigeria and the author. Just knowing information about the author helps alot. I have read another piece by Achebe and I know that he is Nigerian. Knowing this gives him even more credibility when reading this piece. I think it would also be interesting to research relations between people living in the country because we see that gangs of thieves were hurting their fellow Nigerians. As in any story, culture is of utmost importance. It would be good to research African culture and how the Europeans affected this culture and how it changed after the war during the "Civil Peace."