The United Fruit Co.
By Pablo Neruda
When the trumpet sounded
everything was prepared on earth,
and Jehova game the world
to Coca-Cola Inc., Anaconda,
Ford Motors, and other corporations.
The United Fruit Company
reserved for itself the most juicy
piece, the central coast of my world,
the delicate waist of America.
It rebaptized these countries
Banana Republics,
and over the sleeping dead,
over the unquiet heroes
who won greatness,
liberty, and baners,
it established an opera buffa:
it abolished free will,
gave out imperial crowns,
encouraged envy, attracted
the dictatorship of flies:
Trujillo flies, Tachos flies
Carias flies, Martinez flies,
Ubico flies, flies sticky with
submissive blood and marmalade,
drunken flies that buzz over
the tombs of the people,
circus flies, wise flies
expert at tyranny.
With the bloodthristy flies
came the Fruit Company,
amassed coffee and fruit
in ships which put to sea like
overladed trays with the treasures
from our sunken lands.
Meanwhile the Indians fall
into the sugared depths of the
harbors and are buried in the
morning mists;
a corpse rolls, a thing without
name, a discarded number,
a bunch of rotten fruit
thrown on the garbage heap.
Study
A. Origin
First of all, the real name of Pablo Neruda is Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He used that pen name because his father did not want him to be a writer. He was known to be tall, shy and lonesome person. He wrote the poem to bring attention to injustices brought upon the native populations of Central and South America that were the results of American companies and dictators throughout the region who exploited their labor and forcefully suppressed democratic movements. The United Fruit Company strike in Columbia resulted to the deaths of 47 people because the Columbian Army opened fire to them.
B. Structure and Form
The poem is written in free verse, no rhyme scheme was made. It is made up of four stanzas. The first presents the scene after the creation of the world and the birth of the different companies. The second talks about the dictatorship in South and Central America. The third presents the entrance of the United Fruit Company and the last presents the consequences people face from the arising of the said company.
C. Theory
Semiotics is a literary theory used in this poem. It focuses on how symbols create meaning to the poem. Archetypal symbols such as Coca-Cola, Anaconda, Ford Motors and flies all create meaning to the poem.
Analyze
The business companies mentioned were the symbols of American industry and corporation. The flies which were repeatedly written symbolizes something disgusting. The repetition of such word gives the readers an idea that gives to the visualizing of death or destruction. Words such as succulent, delicate, modest and treasure describes the Latin American counties. It paints a picture of innocence and America was the colonizer of it.
The tone of the poem was ironic and cynical. The author emphasized the USA brought ignorant arrogance to the people of Latin America.
Interpret
Some critiques say that there was a "black agenda" behind this poem because of the line "the dictatorship of flies." The characteristics of flies were compared to the following persons: Trujillo, Tachos, Carias, and Martinez who were known as the dictators of the place during that time. Though it tackles about the effects the United Fruit Company brought to the people of Latin and South America, the main goal of this poem is to inform the readers on the things that already happened. The suffering of the people for they were asked to worked without the necessary payment. This was the reason why workers of the United Fruit Company did a strike. This is a clarion call that peoples' right to fair treatment should not be neglected.
The last stanza, expressed the sufferings that the people got out of the United Fruit Company.
Meanwhile the Indians fall
into the sugared depths of the
harbors and are buried in the
morning mists;
a corpse rolls, a thing without
name, a discarded number,
a bunch of rotten fruit
thrown on the garbage heap.
