Korb has a master's degree in English literature and creative writing and has written for a wide variety of educational publishers. In the following essay, she discusses the optimism and pessimism in Achebe's short story.

Achebe's "Civil Peace" shares one man's experience in a tumultuous post-civil war period. Published in 1971, only a short time after the war in Nigeria ended, the story chronicles a perilous era at the same time that Nigerians were still undergoing the sort of trials that it describes. As in his other short stories focusing on the war, Achebe does not attempt to maintain an authorial sense of detachment. "Civil Peace" represents Achebe's ongoing social commitment to his culture, his people, and the fight against injustice.

"Civil Peace" captures a spirit of optimism. After three years, the bloody, deadly war is finally over. Though the people of eastern Nigeria, the former Biafra, have...