1. By: Thiemo, Andrei, and Chris
The United Fruit Co.
By: Thiemo, Andrei, and Chris

2. Historical Context
It was first published in Neruda's Canto general in 1950.
During ’s Neruda was threatened with arrest and on the run.
It was during this time that the hired a Chilean singer named Matilde Urrutia to take care of him, leading to their eventual marriage.
Written not to long after the U.S. backed dictators in South America were ousted from power, which is what this poem comments on

3. Themes of Canto General
It was a catalog of the history, geography, and flora and fauna of South America, accompanied by Neruda's observations and experiences.
Many of them dealt with his time underground in Chile, which is when he composed much of the poem.

4. The Dictators
Lines 21-24: “attracted the dictatorship of the flies, Trujillo flies, Tacho flies, Carias flies, Martinez flies, Ubico flies, damp flies of modest blood and marmalade.”
Trujilo: Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina was a brutal dictator of the Dominican Republic.
Tacho: Formed what was known as the ‘Somoza’ Dynasty in Nicaragua.
Carias: Served as president of Honduras in 1924 and again from
Martines: Likely referring to Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez, who was president of El Salvador.
Ubico: Jorge Ubico, served as the dictator of Guatemala from 1931 to 1944.

5. The Companies
Coca Cola: An American beverage company that has a bad track record with its bottling plants in Columbia
Anaconda: An American copper mining company that was deeply invested in the copper rich land of Chile
Ford Motors: An American automobile company that encountered being targeted by Argentinian terrorism because of its labor practices
The United Fruit Company: Now known as Chiquita, the United Fruit Company, faced labor violations throughout South America and is what really created the “Banana Republics”

6. U.S. Economic Imperialism
After WWII, the United States was the
undisputed world economic leader
Instead of land centered imperialism the United States focused on economic imperialism
The justification was the Monroe Doctrine as well as American intervention was for the best for the South American people

7. Dominant Effect
Neruda uses sweetness as a metaphor to corruption and symbolizes South American dictators as fruit flies to create an allusion to how U.S. companies controlled South America.
Marking Key: Red = Religious Allusions Orange: Irony
Blue = Historical Allusions Green: Corruption Theme
Purple: Sweetness theme

8. Stanza 1: Lines 1-9 When the trumpet sounded, everything
on earth was prepared
and Jehovah distributed the world
to Coca-Cola Inc., Anaconda,
Ford Motors, and other entities:
The Fruit Company Inc.
reserved the juiciest for itself,
the central coast of my land,
the sweet waist of America.
Allusion to the genesis of the world and how the Earth was divided
U.S. companies that have large interests in South American industries and resources
Irony of how the fruit company gave itself the “juiciest” land
Allusion to the fact that
the land was that of the
indigenous people
Theme of sweetness
and its vulnerability

9. Stanza 2: Lines 10-19
It re-baptized the lands
“Banana Republics”
and on the sleeping dead,
on the restless heroes
who’d conquered greatness,
liberty and flags,
it founded a comic opera:
it alienated free wills,
gave crowns of Caesar as gifts,
Creates an arrogant tone that gives the companies a sense of divine right
- False Crusade
U.S. companies turned newly independent South American countries into “Banana Republics”
It turned the work of many great revolutionaries into a joke
Caesar was corrupted with from his power while ruling over the Roman Empire

10. Stanza 2: Lines 19-28
unsheathed jealousy, attracted
the dictatorship of the flies,
Trujillo flies, Tachos flies,
Carias flies, Martinez flies,
Ubico flies, flies soppy
with humble blood and marmalade,
drunken flies that buzz
around common graves,
circus flies, learned flies
adept at tyranny.
Theme of sweetness and how it attracts corruption
U.S. backed dictators/ puppets who are dehumanized into fruit flies
The sweetness of South American natural resources
Fruit that eventually turns into alcohol and “corrupts” those who consume it

11. Stanza 3: Lines 29-34
The Company disembarks
among the bloodthirsty flies,
brim-filling their boats that slide
with the coffee and fruit treasure
of our submerged lands like trays.
Reference to the United Fruit Company in a “He who must not be named” sense
Boats/ transportation methods were used to export resources and leave natives to starve
Figurative and literal sweetness of resources
Trays as in the metaphor of South America as a free buffet of resources

12. Stanza 4: Lines 35-42
Meanwhile, along the sugared-up
abysms of the ports,
indians fall over, buried
in the morning mist:
a body rolls, a thing
without a name, a fallen number,
a bunch of dead fruit
spills into the pile of rot.
“Sweet” exports were very lucrative, which made business more “flexible”
Labor conditions by U.S. companies were atrocious. There was a high rate of fatality by natives who worked for the companies
Corruption causes fruit and human life to have the same value, which causes the continent as a whole to rot

13. Important Allusions/Summary
Bannana Republics
American companies that had large stakes in South American industries
False divine right and the fight against the indigenous population
U.S. backed South American dictators allusion as flies
Relation between themes of sweetness and corruption
DE: Neruda uses sweetness as a metaphor to corruption and symbolizes South American dictators as fruit flies to create an allusion to how U.S. companies controlled South America.

16. Conclusion

17. Works Cited
"Butte Montana Mining History." Montana Mining History. Mining History Association, n.d. Web. 18 Nov
Fischer, Brendan. "A Banana Republic Once Again?" PR Watch. Center for Media and Democracy, 27 Dec Web. 17 Nov
"International Labor Rights Forum." The 14 Worst Corporate Evildoers. Internation Labor Rights Forum, n.d. Web. 15 Nov
"Monroe Doctrine, – Milestones - Office of the Historian."Monroe Doctrine, – Milestones - Office of the Historian. Office of the Historian, n.d. Web. 16 Nov
"Pablo Neruda." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 15 Nov
"Pablo Neruda." University of Chile. University of Chile, n.d. Web. 17 Nov
"United Fruit Historical Society." United Fruit Historical Society. United Fruit Historical Society, n.d. Web. 17 Nov