Following the killing of the messenger, the District Commissioner goes to Okonkwo’s compound and, finding a small crowd, demands to see Okonkwo. Obierika repeatedly says that he is not home. When the Commissioner threatens the men, Obierika agrees to show him where Okonkwo is, expressing the hope that the Commissioner’s men will help them.
Obierika leads the Commissioner and his men to an area behind the compound, where Okonkwo’s body hangs lifeless from a tree—a victim of suicide. Obierika asks the Commissioner if his men will cut Okonkwo down from the tree and bury him. According to tradition, the people of the clan cannot touch the body of a man who killed himself—a sin against the earth. Obierika angrily accuses the Commissioner causing the death of his good friend. The Commissioner orders his men to take down the body and bring it and the crowd to the court.
As the Commissioner leaves, he thinks about the book in which he writes about his experiences in civilizing the people of Nigeria. He will possibly write a chapter, or perhaps an interesting paragraph, about the man who killed a messenger and then killed himself. The Commissioner will title his book The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.
