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Civil Peace Essay: Decolonization And Identity

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Decolonization and Identity in a Postcolonial Community in Chinua Achebe’s “Civil Peace” Chinua Achebe’s text, “Civil Peace,” was one written in order to highlight the devastation and destruction that was occurring after Nigeria’s first conflict after their gain of independence. During the Nigerian Civil War, which was the first conflict, the Igbo portion declared themselves as the Republic of Biafra, however nearly one million Igbo natives died during this time of war. Achebe himself was born in Ogidi, which was an Igbo-speaking community, however the British “asserted their authority” and controlled Igbo politics, military, religious aspects, and trade (Achebe 1453). This British ruling over the Igbo population left them being colonized …show more content…

Jonathan, the main character, goes through many trials and tribulations after the Nigerian Civil War ends. One of the main aspects where colonization shines through is the language that is spoken throughout the text. The narrator speaks in English, however when the thieves appear and Jonathan begins to yell for help, the language becomes a “proverbial language” that mixes both English aspects with African aspects that are spoken. In this scene, one of the thieves speaks with an African dialect: “War done finish and all the katakata wey for inside” (Achebe 1457). This statement mixes English words like war, inside, all,” but also includes native Nigerian words like “katakata” and “wey.” The footnote, then, says that this statement means, “the war has finished and it brought all of the troubles” (Achebe 1457). This statement not only encapsulates the language inclusion, but also shows that they, as a community, are struggling. Both Jonathan and the thieves are struggling to survive and find money/food, however they both take different ways to sustaining themselves during the struggle. Achebe’s use of mixing the two languages also represents that decolonization is happening in this community and that they are starting to form their own identity though they are not leaving all of the European aspects out of it (like including English words,

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