The Opposite of Love Is Not Hate

Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel says, “The opposite of love is not hate; it’s indifference.”

This quote reminds me of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold. The common theme between the two is that death is primarily the result inaction rather than violent action itself.

In Things Fall Apart, the Igbo tribe and culture dies when colonists enter Niger, bringing Christianity and European culture. Believing the missionaries to be humorously harmless, the Mbata tribe does not respond violently. When the white men first arrive in Mbata and challenge their religious beliefs, for example, the tribe “[breaks] into derisive laughter” (Achebe 146). Even Okonkwo, a violent man by nature, “shrugs his shoulders” at the presence of the missionaries, thinking them to be mad but unthreatening. The tribe even allots a plot of land for them, essentially granting them passage into their lives. Through the tribe’s pacification, the missionaries effectively penetrate the Igbo culture through religious conversions. These conversions, including Okonwo’s son’s conversion, undermine Igbo beliefs. The entrance of the missionaries can be blamed on the inaction of many, and the tribe’s subsequent demise can be called a collective suicide.

Conversely, violence is used to preserve culture in Igbo culture. For example, Okonkwo beats his wives and his children if they step out of traditional gender roles. Even Okonwo’s suicide, a violent reflection of the tribe’s own suicide, can be interpreted as a last ditch effort to protect Igbo culture from European culture.

Just as the Igbo tribe’s death is collectively caused, so is Santiago Nasar’s in Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Though Santiago Nasar is brutally killed by the Vicario brothers, his death can be interpreted as a result of his town’s communal inaction. Various members of the town ignore the potential crime, often dismissing the Vicario brother’s blatant death threats as drunken talk. In fact, “there had never been a death more foretold”(50) that could have been--on multiple occasions--prevented. Although some of the townspeople might feel fearful, the majority of the town acts indifferently by not warning Santiago Nasar. His death, therefore, is a collective murder.