Amelia

As a nation that outsources a large proportion of its labour and uses resources from around the world, the United States is often criticised for exploiting other countries or regions. Powerful capitalist countries in general fall under similar criticism. One such instance was with the various fruit companies that operated in the 'Banana Republics' of Latin America, where Pablo Neruda sets his poem 'United Fruit Co.' In this poem he uses the United Fruit Company to illustrate the problems that occurred when the North American fruit companies used the resources and people of Latin America. Neruda does this in several ways, through the use of personification to discuss the dictators in Latin America, to biblical references that suggest a conflict of interests concerning entitlement. In this poem, Neruda mourns the North American exploitation of the riches of Latin America, using the extended metaphor of the United Fruit Company, along with other related metaphors and stylistic devices. Aside from the metaphor of the UFC, Neruda also extensively utilises personification, which is especially illustrated in the symbol of the flies. These flies, personified as having the same traits as the dictators, also help to show the exploitation of the Latin American resources. They are introduced as being drawn by the United Fruit Company, and they are then named as ‘Trujillo flies, Tacho flies, Carias flies, Martinez flies, Ubico flies,’ naming them with the names of the various Latin American dictators. This, along with the fact that the United Fruit Company ‘drew the dictatorship of flies’ suggests that the United States, and its establishment of these companies, is part of the reason that these dictatorships occurred. The fact that the dictators are flies, which are generally considered to be small and insignificant – though also repulsive – also carries a certain weight. It shows that these dictators are in a way nothing more than repugnant insects, attracted to a country or region that is already facing difficulty and exploitation, that they are not in fact in control of the country, but merely preying off of the current situation in order to gain power. The flies are also described as ‘bloodthirsty’, with this being enhanced by the comparison of blood to the juices of the fruit. The flies are ‘soaked in humble blood and jam,’ as though the jam is the blood of the countries they – the dictators – have taken over. Therefore the dictators and the UFC are essentially taking the blood, or the life, out of this region by taking the fruit and allowing these governments to exist. The flies are clearly associated with the UFC because ‘among the bloodthirsty flies the Fruit Co. disembarks,’ so the two are suggested to be working together. This personification of the flies highlights the political context of the poem, and further illustrates the extent to which the UFC has damaged Latin America. Also tied into the metaphor of the UFC are the biblical allusions that are woven through the poem, particularly in the beginning where there are references to Genesis, and also a shift from the old testament to the new. Along with the various biblical references that are made, the idea of 'America's sweet waist,' and all the fruit that is mentioned brings up images similar to the Garden of Eden, or paradise. This is interesting in the context of the poem because it shows a decay of Latin America, which coudl then be read as a decay of paradise. The idea that 'Jehovah destributed the world to Coca-Cola Inc., Anaconda, Ford Motors and other entities' seems to be used very ironically, satirising the notion that powerful capitalist countries such as the United States, and the corporations associated with these countries, seem to feel a certain right to own everything. Here, they are the 'chosen people', though they have not in fact been chosen by anyone. By 'reserv[ing] for itself the juiciest, the central seaboard', UFC takes this a step further, by giving itself entitlement to the best and richest land. The land is then 'rebaptised' which could be read as an allusion to the shift between the 'chosen people' in the Old Testament to those in the New Testament - namely, a smaller, more select group of people: Christians. However, there does again seem to be a certain irony in this, given that the United States is - at least on paper - a secular nation, whereas much of Latin America is composed of Catholic countries. In that sense, the rebaptism could be the idea of taking something that was sacred - something already baptised and good - and changing it into a 'Banana Republic', a subsidiary of a capitalist nation. Still, the sense of entitlement is very present, highlighted further by the reference to 'self destiny,' which is 'alienated' by the UFC. This again seems ironic when viewed with the religious context, and the Christian belief in free will. Also, it shows how the 'free will' of one country or company or political system, when exercised, is done so at the cost of the free will of another nation. This is a similar conflict as that with entitlement - that if two nations feel entitled to the same land, perhaps in different ways, it is impossible for both to act on this without one being subjugated. The poem ends with another extension of the fruit metaphor, with the region and its native people being likened to rotting fruit. A native is decribed as 'a body roll[ing] down, a nameless thing, a fallen number, a bunch of lifeless fruit dumped in the rubbish heap.' In contrast to the personification of the flies that has previously been discussed, this is almost the exact opposite - it is a de-humanisation of the native people of Latin America. Neruda explicitly describes the individual as having no name. Also, the person is not a human but a 'thing,' a word that suggests complete objectification. Then, not only is the humanity of this individual - and, by extension, all the people of the society - stripped of his or her humanity, but is also then described as being thrown away as garbage, as rotting fruit. This metaphor of rotting fruit ties back into the extended metaphor of the UFC, illustrating how the native population has fallen into decay because of the actions of this company. Neruda uses the 'lifeless fruit' to symbolise the entire region. Once rich with resources, it is now dying - or rotting - under the oppression of these corporations and dictators. The foreign governments and companies end up taking over the native population, and taking the resources at the expense of the people, who are then stripped of their humanity, identity, and eventually lives.