As Told by Reginald

As Told by Reginald

Girls at War by Chinua Achebe is told through the eyes of the Nigerian official, Reginald Nwankwo. The story revolves around his encounters with Gladys and as the storyline progresses, so does their relationship. Girls at War presents how war in Nigeria changed the way women led their lives, decreased of the sense of security, and highlighted the ever triumphant social hierarchy in the society.

Gladys is the lead female character in the story. At the very beginning of the story, it is evident how unbent her conviction was and served her nation with unwavering loyalty. She stood firmly and did not backdown despite her lowly rank. When Reginald was looking for special treatment as he did not want to be checked she did not give in and still did her job even if her rank was way under his. She responds to his annoyance saying Sorry to delay you, sir. But you people gave us this job to do. But when the story goes further, her method of surviving changes. Instead of working hard to further her career, she caves in the beautifying method. During this time, women succumbed to acquiring cosmetics in order to beautify themselves and be able to nab a high ranking official or a husband who can support them.

Women chose to debase their capabilities so that they will have sure means of survival. Gladys and her friend August proves this point the most. In the story, Gladys yields to vanity much to August's prodding. August sells the cosmetics and was able to attain a very capable lover. It also shows how the women also use their vanity to keep them preoccupied. With the raging war, not all women were tasked to do things. So instead they turned their attention toward their vanity. This move is not foreign to our society. Nowadays vanity and beauty make a large factor in the success of a girl. It is similar to the French biopic Coco Avant Chanel, the founder of the fashion empire Chanel, starring Audrey Tautou. The sister of Coco left their profession in order to make herself available to her husband and in return she was well taken care of.

While the women turned to their vanities as means of survival, Chinua Achebe was able to incorporate how everyone else was affected by the war. It is a given that when a country is at war, their condition is not at its best. But here, it is shown how even the rich was unable to escape the effects of the war.

Nigeria during this time had a very conspicuous loss of its sense of security. Reginald at on point says People are dying every day. As we talk now somebody is dying. The citizens lived in distress because of the war. The story shows how they are unable to live a normal life because they are living in constant fear of the possibilities of attacks. A young boy from a well-off family enters the kitchen and screams because a airplane flying over them and all of them in the household immediately duck and take cover. This shows