discussion

United Fruit Co.

The United Fruit Co.

Pablo Neruda (Chile)

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/pablo-neruda

Pronounce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVXJCTjMSEk&vl=en-US

The class led with one of Neruda works, Poet’s Obligation and now follows here with his The United Fruit Co. Somewhat obviously, the very name distinguishes itself as an attack on major corporations and the United States. We can expect this if we are aware of his political perspective.

Note that there is a United Fruit Co. https://www.umbc.edu/che/tahlessons/pdf/historylabs/Guatemalan_Coup_student:RS01.pdf

The poem specifically address the distorted neocolonial relations between the United States and its subsidiaries in Latin America. Poet’s Obligation focused more directly on the human toll and his responsibility toward the oppressed and downtrodden.

This poet’s work is similar to Nicholas Guillen who you will meet later.

His autobiography is title Memoirs, a fictionalized view of him in Skarmeta’s novel Burning Patientce, and Teitleboim’s biography of him titled Neruda. Clearly, such shows the esteem with which he is held. A film: At the start of the Cold War, subversive Chilean senator and poet Pablo Neruda is pursued by police prefect Oscar Peluchonneau. Unable to flee the country, Neruda goes into hiding and becomes a symbol of liberty at home and in Europe.

To gain control over the work, identify all terms you do not know. See their relationships to each other. Se the lament for his people.

Print the poem. It is also available under the Readings tab. Trace the verbs. Understand the “story” line. See the visual.

THE UNITED FRUIT CO. When the trumpet sounded, all was prepared on the earth and Jehovah parceled out the world to Coca-Cola Inc., Anaconda, Ford Motors, and other entities: the United Fruit Company Inc. reserved for itself the juiciest bit, the central coast of my land, the gentle waist of America. It rebaptized these lands as "Banana Republics," and over the sleeping dead, over the restless heroes, who had conquered greatness, liberty and flags, The Company established a comic opera, drove all free will insane, handed out crowns of Caesar, unsheathed greed, and attracted the dictatorship of the flies, Trujillo flies, Tacho flies, Carías flies, Martínez flies, Ubico flies, flies moistened by humble blood and marmalade drunken flies buzzing over the tombs of the common people, circus flies, wise flies well versed in tyranny. Among the bloody flies, The United Fruit Company steps ashore,  devastating the coffee and the fruits, in its ships that sail like trays taking away the treasure of our drowning lands. All the while, near the sugary deep of the harbors, the Indians fell, buried in the morning mists: a corpse tumbles, a nameless thing, a fallen number, a bunch of putrid fruit thrown on the compost heap. Translation by Mac Williams