Aide pour une question

[blo_]

Bonsoir,

Je vous mets le texte sur lequel je dois travailler:

Unhappy with the arrival of the British in his country, Okonkwo has killed a messenger from the government and hanged himself. The white District Commissioner arrives in the village with the intention of arresting him.

[…] Then they came to the tree from which Okonkwo’s body was dangling, and they stopped dead.

“Perhaps your men can help us bring him down and bury him,” said Obierika. We have sent for strangers from another village to do it for us, but they may be a long time coming.

The District Commissioner changed instantaneously. The resolute administrator in him gave way to the student of primitive customs.

“Why can’t you take him down yourselves? he asked.

“It is against our custom”, said one of the men. It is an abomination for a man to take his own life. It is an offence against the Earth, and a man who commits it will not be buried by his clansmen. His body is evil, and only strangers may touch it. That is why we ask your people to bring him down, because you are strangers.”

“Will you bury him like any other man? asked the Commissioner.

“We cannot bury him. Only strangers can. We shall pay your men to do it. When he has been buried we will then do our duty by him. We shall make sacrifices to cleanse the desecrated land.

Obierika, who had been gazing steadily at his friend’s dangling body, turned suddenly to the District Commissioner and said ferociously: “That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog ...”. He could not say any more. His voice trembled and choked his words.

“Shut up!” shouted one of the messengers, quite unnecessarily.

“Take down the body”, the Commissioner ordered his chief messenger, and bring it and all these people to the court.

“Yes, sah,” the messenger said, saluting.

The Commissioner went away, taking three or four of the soldiers with him. In the many years in which he had toiled to bring civilisation to different parts of Africa he had learnt a number of things. One of them was that a District Commissioner must never attend to such undignified details as cutting down a hanged man from the tree. Such attention would give the natives a poor opinion of him. In the book which he planned to write he would stress that point. As he walked back to the court he thought about that book. Every day brought him some new material. The story of this man who had killed a messenger and hanged himself would make interesting reading. One could almost write a whole chapter on him. Perhaps not a whole chapter but a reasonable paragraph, at any rate. There was so much else to include, and one must be firm in cutting out details. He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.

Voilà la question à laquelle je n'arrive pas à répondre:

Explain the District Commissioner's double personality.

Ce que je comprends c'est qu'il est passé de "resolute administrator" à "student of primitive customs" mais je ne saurais expliquer pourquoi étant donné qu'à la fin il dit qu'il a appris, de par ses voyages, qu'il ne doit pas prêter attention à ce genre de détails de peur d'être mal vu et c'est pourtant ce qu'il fait en faisant ce qu'Obierika demande.

Merci de m'aider.

Bonne nuit.

[Jean B]

Bonjour,

C’est surprenant le nombre de fois où ce sujet refait surface tous les ans à pareille époque…

As a resolute administrator ===> on l’imagine tout en raideur, sanglé dans son uniforme, sûr de ses prérogatives, de son pouvoir, du fait qu’il est "britannique jusqu’au bout des ongles", qu’il est là pour faire respecter la loi et l’ordre au nom de sa Très Gracieuse Majesté.

As a student of primitive customs ===> il a beau être strict, il n’en est pas moins homme et sans doute se laisse-t-il convaincre, du moins en apparence, par la "plaidoirie véhémente " de Obierika, l’ami du suicidé.

Si tu as lu le texte attentivement, le Commissionner ordonne bien en effet qu’on dépende le suicidé, qu’on amène son corps au tribunal avec tous les gens présents mais il tourne aussitôt les talons en direction du tribunal pour ne pas assister à la scène. Dans le livre qu’il a décidé d’écrire, il dit bien qu'il insisterait sur ce point-là. Apparemment, ce "détail " t’a échappé.

Pour finir, le titre qu’il a choisi pour son futur livre en dit long à lui seul sur son caractère.

Hope I supplied some clues about his double personality. Now it's up to you to stir the broth.

[blo_]

Les précédents sujets ont surement été postés par des élèves du cned comme je le suis mais je n'ai retrouvé qu'un seul topic, j'ai peut-être mal cherché.

Merci de ton aide je sais désormais quoi répondre.

Bonne journée!

[Jean B]

Puisque tu es inscrite au CNED, peut-être devrais-tu rectifier ton profil qui indique CE1, non ?