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Suspense In Jonathan Iwegbu's Poem 'Nothing Puzzles God'

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Literary Analysis Essay
The story takes place in eastern Nigeria after a civil war. Jonathan Iwegbu, the main character, owns a bicycle, which he uses as a taxi to make money. He rides to Enugu where his family and home are, and to his surprise, everything he owns is still intact, even after the civil war. Jonathan and his family rebuild their lives by working odd jobs to become solvent. One day, Jonathan finds some rebel currency on the ground and turns it in for twenty pounds. That night, thieves rob Jonathan of the twenty pounds, but Jonathan says “Nothing puzzles God”, indicating that the robbery has more meaning in God’s eyes than in Jonathan’s eyes. Something that Jonathan can see; however, is civil peace. Now that the war is over, he …show more content…

Suspense is a feeling of anxious uncertainty about the outcomes of events. “Jonathan and his family were now completely paralyzed by terror. Maria and the children sobbed inaudibly like lost souls. Jonathan groaned continuously. The silence that followed the thieves’ alarm vibrated horribly.” (448). This quote describes suspense because it shows Jonathan and his family uncertain of what the thieves will do to their home and themselves. In this quote, Jonathan and his family have been mocked by the thieves repeating their cries for help. No one responds because no one is awake at that time. Then, Jonathan and the thieves negotiate the amount of money from 100 pounds down to twenty pounds and the thieves are satisfied. This suspense is important to include in the story because it shows how families would react to these kinds of events happening during the civil war. Suspense is important to the story by portraying the uncertainty of how Jonathan and his family are going to react to the robbery.
The three literary terms imagery, external conflict, and suspense, are discussed in the story “Civil Peace”, written by Chinua Achebe. The theme that these literary terms represent is faith. Jonathan, the main character, is optimistic and faithful in his God. “Nothing puzzles God”, he says. He believes that God knows the meaning of what happens to him even if he does not know what something is or why it happened in the first place. People should have faith, even in times when there seems to be no

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