M. Okonkwo How could someone’s faith in God be so strong during the toughest times of war and even trials and tribulations? It all starts off with a civil war that began when the eastern region of Nigeria declared itself the independent Republic of Biafra, with Enugu as its capital. The city was invaded by Nigerian Federal Troops just five moths after Independence. The war resulted in a horrific famine as well as violence. Civil Peace on the other hand, starts off in eastern Nigeria after the civil war ended.

Jonathan Iwegbu is lucky the he, his wife, Maria, and three of their four children are still alive Jonathon has been through a lot. Jonathan travels to Enugu, the capital city, and finds that his house is still standing. Jonathon is seen as faithful young man to his family and God, who does not change throughout the story, is also a positive person who may have some weaknesses but because he knows how to turn negative situations to positive results he will always see the greener side everything.

During the story Jonathan shows his many strengths in the face of death in the story. Despite the civil war Jonathan shows a positive tone in the midst of death. He starts off by stating “Happy Survival”. What he meant by that is he happy to be alive. He also continued to say “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. ” Jonathan is happy because he can enjoy the association of the ones alive, instead of being sad for the ones who died.

This is an example of his positive state of mind. Traveling back to Enugu, and seeing his house he was surprised it was still standing. He did not talk about how bad it was messed up and how bad he felt but instead he considered his house a blessing because some of his co-workers did not have a home after the war. The characterization of Jonathon explains the theme of the story very well. I believe the theme of the story is, “turn negative situations to positive results”.

In this story the character Jonathon showed that the theme can tie directly in with his characterization because of his persistence, faithfulness to God and ability to turn any issue positive. In the story it talks about how Jonathan took every experience in and made it good. His actions explain the theme because he exemplifies what the story’s theme is about. For instance, when he saw his house in Enugu after the war, he could have lost his mind over how damaged it was but he suggested instead picking up some debris, hiring a carpenter and fix his house back up.