Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
When Captain Winterbottom stopped the war between Okperi and Umuaro, he broke all of Umuaro's guns, except a few that he took as mementos. By doing so, he symbolically took away the manhood of Umuaro's men and turned them into children. By removing the possibility of using weapons, Umuaro could no longer decide to go to war.