The United Fruit Company Geetika Mukkamala, John Kruper, Lara Hakam, Rohan Perisetla

Culture and Context

The United Fruit Company and American Imperialism The United Fruit Company: American company interested in the international trade of fruits, particularly bananas Such fruits grow well in Central America and other tropical countries such as Peru or Chile The company exploited cheap labor to make huge profits, In some cases, they had large enough monopoly to control the entire economy Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala were the primary victims, labeled Banana Republics

Neruda’s Relationship with the Company and Chile Neruda was a communist who supported the Soviet Union for its idealistic support of the working class and for its success in World War Two Neruda viewed the United Fruit Company and America (not the individual Americans) as imperialists stealing the natural recourses of his country and abusing the labor of poor Chileans

Communism and Poetry With the impact of communism, Neruda shifted to talk more about social change and a Chile free from American Imperialism. Political Involvement: Supporter of Marxist Allende who was later overthrown by a US coup with Pinochet. Opinion on the US: Strongly disliked American imperialism b/c: Took advantage of Blue Collar workers Capitalism didn’t help the working/lower classes. Condemned aggression in Korea and US involvement in Chile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFDOI24RRAE

Neruda’s Style

Modernista Era A movement driven by a desire to overrule traditional norms and express a new sensibility developing during the time. Blend of: Romanticism Parnassianism Symbolism

Phases of Neruda Poetry Love poetry about his love life with his wife. Surrealistic poetry with his experiences as the foundation. Direct political commentary. Poetry of everyday life focusing on the common person and objects.

The Poem

Dominant Effect In the poem, “The United Fruit Company”, Pablo Neruda uses allusions to American Imperialism while creating a lamenting tone to portray the detrimental effects of foreign companies on Chilean society.

Literary Devices Used Allusion Imagery (Especially of things related to the sea) Onomatopoeia Similes Metaphors Repetition (of fruit references) Personification Point of View Listing (similar to Whitman’s style)

Allusion Quick Note: The Flies! Lines 20 through 23 of the poem discuss the dictatorship of the flies. It references these presidents: Trujillo, Dominican Republic, 1930-1961 Tachos (nickname for García), Nicaragua, 1936-1956 Carias, Honduras, 1933-1946 Martínez, El Salvador, 1931-1944 Ubico (full name: Jorge Ubico y Castañeda), Guatemala, 1931-1944

When the trumpet sounded, everything on earth was prepared, the 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 own land, the sweet waist of America. it re-baptized the lands “Banana Republics” and on the sleeping dead, on the restless heroes who’d conquered greatness, liberty and the flags, Allusion Imagery Metaphors Personification Point of View Repetition

it founded a comic opera: alienated free wills, gave crowns of Caesar as gifts, unsheathed jealousy, attracted the dictatorship of the flies, Trujillo flies, Tacho 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. Allusion Onomatopoeia Metaphors Personification Listing (similar to Whitman’s style)

The Company disembarks Among the blood-thirsty flies brim-filling their boats that slide with the coffee and fruit treasure of our submerged lands like trays. 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 a pile of rot. Imagery Similes Metaphors Personification Repetition

Creative Interpretation

Works Cited “Pablo Neruda.” World History. The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 12 Nov. 2015. "Neruda's Participation in Modernism." Pablo Neruda. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.