Question

In the first two paragraphs of civil peace jonathans bicycle is one of the main topics. Why is the bicycle so important in setting up the story? What is the author conveying aboth the cultural context by focusing on the bicycle? Highlight evidence from the text and make annotations to support your interpretation.

Answer 1

Chinua Achebe is the author of Civil War wrote in 1971. He was was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. The novel  is about the effects of the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970) on the people, and the "civil peace" that followed.

The story begins in eastern Nigeria after the civil war has ended. The protagonist, Jonathan Iwegbu, was able to keep his bicycle, which he turns into a taxi to make money. Jonathan is the representation of optimism. He works really hard to rebuild his home for his family. Situation for which his bicycle is important during the course of the story, because it was the only thing left he had after the war, and he turns the only thing left to recover his life back.

By focusing on the Bicycle, the author presents the poverty, ruination and chaos set by the war. The only possible way to make some money for the civilians was by the still present military forces. At the same time, the author illustrates the most common way to travel for the average man in Africa, since almost everybody is really poor, the only means of transportation they can buy is also the cheapest, a bicycle.

"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."