I have decided to write my paper on Civil Peace by Chinua Achebe. It is important to write about this topic because it is often overlooked in history in general and I think Civil Peace contains so many links to the period in which it takes place. There are many historical and cultural connections to the work. The war is the biggest I have found so far. The short story is set after the Nigerian War had taken place. During this time the Nigerians were no longer under British rule. However, they had been under British rule for so long it was hard for them to start a new government. Therefore, people were doing whatever they had to do to get money. They would often steal because there was no law enforcement. This war put lots of strain on the Nigerian people, so to survive the war was no easy thing. This connection to the war helps me to understand the short story even more. This war was brutal and to survive it among all the destruction that was caused was nothing short of a miracle. When I first read the story I found it interesting that the townspeople would greet one another by saying “Happy Survival.” Now that I know that the war was really hard for them it makes more sense. One of the themes of the short story is definitely the hardships and struggles following war. Researching the war helped me to better understand why Jonathan was so grateful for his bicycle, his house, and most of all his family.
Researching the author is also important to understanding the theme of war in this story. Chinua Achebe is Nigerian and was alive during and after the war and often relates some of his experiences to the war and the short story. I think researching him and getting some of his first hand accounts of the war would be very beneficial in understanding the text even better. Knowing that he was alive during the war and in Nigeria during some of it gives him even more credibility and helps me to understand the story even more. While reading it I continuously thought about how optimistic the main character Jonathan was. Knowing that Achebe is Nigerian helps me to better understand why he was so happy. Achebe wants his country to get better as a whole and having an optimistic character helps lighten the mood and make it feel like things will get better.
As of now I think I have all of the information I need. For this essay I want to link the information about the war and Chinua Achebe to the short story and how its theme of war is portrayed.
Thesis: One of the themes from Civil Peace by Chinua Achebe is the struggle and hardships of life after war. This theme can be better understood through knowledge of the Nigerian War and through knowledge of the life of Achebe.
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Meghan, it looks like you are on a good track. Now your task is to stay focused on the story and making sure that any historical or cultural clues you mention are related to specific elements of the story you are analyzing. So any time you mention a historical or cultural clue, it should be so-to-say matched up with a quote or reference to an element of this story.
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