''Civil Peace'' by Achebe
Guided Reading Session: "Civil Peace" by Chinua Achebe
Learning objectives:
The author's background
Historical context
Vocabulary
First read
Lesson duration is: 40 minItems in this lesson
Guided Reading Session: "Civil Peace" by Chinua Achebe
Learning objectives:
The author's background
Historical context
Vocabulary
First read
When was Chinua Achebe born?
1925
1955
1930
1945
Which tribe was Achebe a member of?
Hausa
Zulu
Igbo
Yoruba
What is Achebe's most famous novel?
Arrow of God
No Longer at Ease
Civil Peace
Things Fall Apart
What war did Achebe experience?
World War II
Vietnam War
Nigerian Civil War
Cold War
What does 'Civil Peace' focus on?
Colonial expansion
Economic prosperity
Cultural heritage
Resilience of the human spirit
Fill in the blanks
Windfall → An unexpected piece of good fortune or money
Surrender → The act of giving up
Amenable → Willing to agree or be persuaded
Inestimable → Priceless, too great to measure
Blessings → Things that bring happiness and good fortune
Influence (n.) → Dishonest persuasion or bribery
What 3 words come to mind when you see this image?
What words might describe someone who stays positive after war?
Section 1: “Five Inestimable Blessings”
Jonathan Iwegbu counted himself extraordinarily lucky. “Happy survival!” meant so much more to him than just a current fashion of greeting old friends in the first hazy days of peace. It went deep to his heart. He had come out of the war with five inestimable blessings—his head, his wife Maria’s head, and the heads of three out of their four children. As a bonus he also had his old bicycle—a miracle too but naturally not to be compared to the safety of five human heads.
The bicycle had a little history of its own. One day at the height of the war it was commandeered “for urgent military action.” Hard as its loss would have been to him he would still have let it go without a thought had he not had some doubts about the genuineness of the officer. It wasn’t his disreputable rags, nor the toes peeping out of one blue and one brown canvas shoe, nor yet the two stars of his rank done obviously in a hurry in biro, that troubled Jonathan; many good and heroic soldiers looked the same or worse. It was rather a certain lack of grip and firmness in his manner. So Jonathan, suspecting he might be amenable to influence, rummaged in his raffia bag and produced the two pounds with which he had been going to buy firewood which his wife, Maria, retailed to camp officials for extra stock‑fish and corn meal, and got his bicycle back. That night he buried it in the little clearing in the bush where the dead of the camp, including his own youngest son, were buried. When he dug it up again a year later after the surrender all it needed was a little palm‑oil greasing. “Nothing puzzles God,” he said in wonder.
He put it to immediate use as a taxi and accumulated a small pile of Biafran money ferrying camp officials and their families across the four‑mile stretch to the nearest tarred road. His standard charge per trip was six pounds and those who had the money were only glad to be rid of some of it in this way. At the end of a fortnight he had made a small fortune of one hundred and fifteen pounds.
Then he made the journey to Enugu and found another miracle waiting for him. It was unbelievable. He rubbed his eyes and looked again and it was still standing there before him. But, needless to say, even that monumental blessing must be accounted also totally inferior to the five heads in the family. This newest miracle was his little house in Ogui Overside. Indeed nothing puzzles God! Only two houses away a huge concrete edifice some wealthy contractor had put up just before the war was a mountain of rubble. And here was Jonathan’s little zinc house of no regrets built with mud blocks quite intact! Of course the doors and windows were missing and five sheets off the roof. But what was that? And anyhow he had returned to Enugu early enough to pick up bits of old zinc and wood and soggy sheets of cardboard lying around the neighborhood before thousands more came out of their forest holes looking for the same things. He got a destitute carpenter with one old hammer, a blunt plane and a few bent and rusty nails in his tool bag to turn this assortment of wood, paper, and metal into door and window shutters for five Nigerian shillings or fifty Biafran pounds. He paid the pounds, and moved in with his overjoyed family carrying five heads on their shoulders.
Based on these first five paragraphs, what three words best describe Jonathan Iwegbu’s attitude toward life?
What does 'Happy survival!' mean to Jonathan?
It goes deep to his heart.
A phrase used during the war.
A common greeting among friends.
A way to celebrate victory.
How many heads did Jonathan survive with?
Two heads in total.
Five heads in total.
Four heads in total.
Three heads in total.
What did Jonathan's bicycle represent?
A means of transportation only.
A symbol of wealth and power.
A tool for war efforts.
A miracle compared to human safety.
What did Jonathan do with his bicycle?
Left it buried in the bush.
Gave it away to a soldier.
Used it as a taxi.
Sold it for Biafran money.
What was Jonathan's house made of?
Brick and concrete.
Steel and aluminium.
Mud blocks and zinc.
Glass and wood.
Contrast – How is Jonathan’s attitude toward his damaged house different from the attitude someone who had never experienced war might have? What does his reaction reveal about his priorities?
