Comparing Civil Peace And Bless Me, Ultima By Rudolfo Anaya

Throughout the short story Civil Peace by Chinua Achebe and the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, the protagonist of each story goes through a series of dreadful events, one after another. But instead of seeing these experiences as reasons to give up the characters use them as a way to get stronger, by always looking on the brighter side of the situation. With their actions as examples, someone can conclude that the theme both Anaya and Achebe are trying to get through to the reader is that they should choose to make the best of a situation, even when chaos and/or lawlessness are occurring around them. Both Anaya and Achebe teach their theme through how their main characters’ happy personality remains intact during rough times. They also present their theme with the way the protagonist of each story interprets what is happening around them and what they are told, and the way they react in hardships, taking in their surroundings and making something better.
But to convey his theme, Achebe gave Jonathan a very greatful personality, where he takes bad news and turns it into good news. In the story Jonathan “made the journey to Enugu” (Achebe 359) after the war and found his house in ruins, with very little standing, but it is described as “another miracle waiting for him” (Achebe 359) because Jonathan wasn’t disappointed that most of his house had fallen to the ground, but pleased to see even the slightest bit survived. His happy personality allowed him to turn the bad situation of his house almost being destroyed into something