Rotimi


 * UNITED FRUIT CO.**

The poem //United Fruit Co.// by Pablo Neruda is a critique of capitalism, using the eponymous corporation as a synecdoche of the system. The poet employs symbolism of elements associated with such companies to satirically but succinctly expressing his views, such as the central company, intended as both a specific example in his critique, as well as a metaphor for his argument. Criticism is especially focused on the irrationality of the immense amount of influence wielded by private corporations, as well as on the power they gave to Central American dictators of his time. This is made even more effective as Neruda highlights how human life is disregarded for the sake of power.

Lines 1-3 open with the mention of the sound of a trumpet and distribution of the world to private organisations from the United States by "Jehovah". This religious allusion to the creation story in the book of Genesis demonstrates the absurdity of how much power the corporations have, as it satirically suggests that their influence is natural and justified. The metaphor of divinely empowered corporations may exaggerate the amount of power they have, to call attention to how much damage they have caused. It may also shed light on the root of the mentality of the North American organisations: the biblical creation story denotes humans to have dominion over the world, which was justification for expansionist policies of the United States in the past. Though expansionism is not the present case, the control of these organisations over Central American may be seen as a form of neocolonialism. The connection between this and capitalism may have been what the socialist Neruda had been clarifying, in order to criticise the economic system.

The dictators are bluntly represented by the poet as flies, seen is his naming of certain leaders, revealing his strong feelings about their actions. With flies being insects drawn to both sweet and decaying matter, the leaders are likely being portrayed as seeking power and also as being morally decadent. Their being "soaked in…jam" (line 24) could refer to profit from association with capitalists--jam, being a product of fruit, could be interpreted as the company's gain, implying that some of the dictators' power resulted from their involvement with the company.

Disregard for human life is prominent in the poem, with respect to both leaders and the company. The mention of "flies that drone over the common graves" (lines 25-26) suggests that the leaders feed off the deaths of their citizens--fruit companies cultivated one-crop plantations, an agricultural system which hampered the soil. Though this would have affected the ability of ordinary farmers to grow crops, the fruit company still makes profit, from which the dictators benefit as well. This lack of concern for life is expressed strongly in the last paragraph: the fallen body is said to be "a nameless thing" (l. 39-40), dehumanising it. It is also compared to bad fruit, an unneeded object to be discarded. This highlights the apathy and cruelty of the corporations and dictators towards the people; they regard them as no more than trivial elements that should be done away with. The heaviness of this is captured with the setting of this stanza being in "sugary abysses" (l. 36), emphasising the tragic nature of the matter.

- central company?

- you talked about biblical allusions in your body paragraphs. you might want to mention it in your intro - i don't quite understand your point about clarifying the connection between neocolonialism and capitalism in order to criticise the economic system. probably because i don't know much about econ but to play safe you might want to explain more

- small formatting problem: inconsistency in format used in indicating line numbers. (line xx) v.s. (l. xx)

Noble

-Expand on and clarify the point you make about the biblical creation story being a justification for expansionist policies of the United States in the past

-In the second paragraph, when you said “The connection between this and capitalism”, what is ‘this’ referring to? Neocolonialism? -make a clearer link between how the symbolic flies being drawn to sweet and decaying matter portray the leaders seeking power (With flies being insects drawn to both sweet and decaying matter, the leaders are likely being portrayed as seeking power and also as being morally decadent.) -I agree with the points you made in that last paragraph but I don’t see how the “sugary abysses” emphasize a tragic nature Christal