Things Fall Apart

After the egwugwu burn down the mission, Okonkwo feels something “akin to happiness” (192). Okonkwo was one of the strongest and most respected voices in the decision to take action, and that feeling of being a “warrior” makes him “almost happy again” (192). Yet the men of Umuofia are still on their guard, and when the District Commissioner, to whom Mr. Smith reports, sends for a convoy from Umuofia, Okonkwo and his fellow men travel armed.

Upon arrival, the men set their sheathed machetes and goatskin bags on the floor of the District Commissioner’s office and tell their story. The Commissioner sends for his men, who share the Ibo tongue but “are ignorant” of local customs, so that they can “take warning” (193). Suddenly, as the men of Umuofia tell the story, they are “handcuffed and led into the guardroom […] so quickly that the six men [do] not see it coming” (194).

The Commissioner tells the men that he “shall not do [them] any harm” if they will “agree to cooperate” and not “ill-treat others” (194). Though the Commissioner tells the messengers “to treat the men with respect because they [are] the leaders of Umuofia,” they order each prisoner’s head shaved and then mock them (195).