27 pages • 54 minutes read
Chinua AchebeCivil Peace
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1971A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Jonathan’s Bicycle
The first symbol readers encounter is the bicycle, which represents hope, renewal, survival, and movement toward the future. Jonathan digs up his bike from its hiding place in the graveyard and is happy to find it in good condition. He refurbished it by greasing it with palm oil and opens a taxi service. The bicycle carries him out of desperation, propelling him into the future and earning him enough money to invest in a bar and provide a degree of security for his family. The bicycle represents the power to reimagine. Like the bicycle, other things were damaged in the war: houses, people, and businesses. Like the bicycle, they needed to be restored. With grit and hopeful determination, Jonathan was able to refurbish his bicycle and reimagine his life.
Doors and Windows
When Jonathan discovers his house, he is happy to find it mostly intact except for the doors and windows, which are missing. For 50 Biafran pounds, he replaces them. Like the title “Civil Peace,” the doors and the windows have dual meanings—an open door can represent opportunity, movement, and transition, while a closed one can represent imprisonment. By installing the door, Jonathan also establishes his movement from the past to the future. On the other hand, when the thieves knock on the door, the family is imprisoned in their home.
Similarly, windows symbolize hope, opportunity, liberation, and fear. They work as a passageway between the interior and the exterior world, allowing external elements to come inside. A window can be opened to let in the fresh air, but it also has the unwelcome effect of exposing the inside to external forces of people watching and coveting the possessions inside. While Jonathan and his family hope for a better future, the windows represent fear of the external world. This is seen when the robbers arrive at his home and terrorize his family. The evil aspects of the external world enter his peaceful abode.
Egg Rasher
In consideration for returning rebel money to the Treasury, Jonathan receives an “egg rasher” (a garbled pronunciation of the Latin term ex gratia, which means “as a favor”) of 20 pounds. Aware that Jonathan has received money, a group of robbers ascends on his house demanding 100 pounds. Like other symbols in the story, the meaning of the egg rasher shifts from good to bad. In a post-colonial, post-civil war society, everything is constantly shifting, changing, and redefining itself. While appearing as a windfall, the reward becomes the reason Jonathan’s family is terrorized.
People struggle to survive without an economic infrastructure that provides opportunities. The result is violence and conflict. Furthermore, the text uses two different types of currency: the Nigerian shilling and the Biafran pound. Jonathan pays the carpenter in Biafran pounds, perhaps indicating a connection to the Biafran cause. Yet, when the Biafran soldier attempts to steal his bike, Jonathan gives him two Biafran pounds. When accosted to give up his money, Jonathan acquiesces both to the soldier and the thieves, affirming that there are things more important in his life—his family’s survival.
While the egg rasher is sizeable, it is not the money alone that will help Jonathan. It is also his hard work and intelligence. Having surrendered the egg rasher to the thieves, Jonathan and his family immediately start working where they left off. The thieves could take their money, but not their self-reliance and determination.
Related Titles
By Chinua Achebe
