Introduction
This essay is an analysis of “The United Fruit Company” by Pablo Neruda. The original name of it is “La United Fruit Co”. The poem was published in Spanish in 1950 and later interpreted into English. Neruda’s “United Fruit Company” is a reflection on the situation in the Latin American countries during the early and mid 20th century. That follows a wave of imperialism exercised by the international corporations established in the Middle American countries.
Those include the Coca-Cola Company, the Anaconda Mining Company, the Ford Motors, and the United Fruit Company. Bucheli argues that the United Fruit Company was the American company that had established the most political and economic influence in the so-called ‘‘Banana Republics’’ (9).
That was a term coined by an American writer Henry, to refer to the backward Latin American countries, whose governments had been taken over by dictators, supported by the multinationals from the United States.
The multinationals had influenced the governments of these countries to the extent that the tyrant, who ruled in those days, suppressed workers strikes using government bodies such as the military and the police in favor of the companies. The meaning of the poem ‘‘United Fruit Company’ stands out as relevant during those times in several ways.
“United Fruit Company” Poem: Critical Analysis
Considering the political situations during those times, Pablo Neruda’s ‘‘United Fruit Company’’ is relevant as far as timing is concerned since the people needed the information contained in the poem.
That is the satirical portrayal of the multinationals, who had invaded the countries rather than doing what they had disguised themselves as doing. They worsened the situation through exploiting the workers, bribing the dictators in power during those days, and manipulating the decisions of such leaders to their advantage.
Those companies influenced the region since they rewarded the leaders who sacrificed their people in exchange for favors.
An excellent example is the Banana Massacres, where the military opened fire to a group of striking workers, killing an estimated 2000 workers and wounding others. In the poem, P.Neruda uses the metaphor of the flies to refer to the tyrants who benefited by killing their citizens to gain favors and resources from these dominating companies. The success of the poem “The United Fruit Company” does not fall in that it encouraged the people to take up arms against such companies as the ‘‘United Fruit Co’’.
It also gives a more in-depth insight into the situations with the banana countries under the influence of the tyrants such as Trujillo, Tacho, Martinez, and Ubico. Pablo Neruda uses biblical phrases in the poem to satirize the justification that imperialism received in comparison to the corruption and evil deeds committed by these companies.
This poem and other works by other artists of the time, such as Miguel Angel Asturias and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, are responsible for the rise of the rebellions and resistance that resulted in many revolutions in Latin America. Pablo Neruda’s “United Fruits Company” is timeless as far as the issue it sought to address remains. That includes the aspects of Neo-Colonialism and Imperialism, which exercised on many developing nations by the developed countries.
“United Fruit Co”: Poem’s Significance in Today’s Context
The many multinational corporations established almost in every corner of the world are considered the quintessential representatives of the imperialist governments that they represent. In this regard, the aspects of these corporations, as addressed in Pablo Neruda’s poem, still hold.
These include worker exploitation and the habits of exercising control over decision making organs and promoting corruption in the countries where they establish their businesses rather than improve the economies. These companies are considered the major causes of increased corruption rates in developing countries.
They do this by influencing a minority of the key decision-makers to ensure that they are exempted from taxes and that they get significant profits at the expense of the workers who do the real working and at the same time promote poverty in that they deplete the country of its resources. “With the bloodthirsty flies, came the Fruit Company amassed coffee and fruit in ships which put to sea like overloaded trays with the treasures from our sunken lands” ( Neruda line 20).
Here Pablo Neruda elaborates the notion held by most developing countries multinational cause commotions in these countries, almost causing civil wars and other political unrests and eventually leaving the countries torn by these and going back with the loot they take from these countries to their nations. This explains most of the perceivable actions of the multinationals involved in mining in mineral-rich countries such as the central African country of DRC.
Conclusion
In summary, Pablo Neruda’s “United Fruit Company” has a timeless significance as far as the elaboration of the operations of multinational corporations in the developing countries is concerned. Though the poem was written more than 50 years ago, its meaning, theme, and message are clear for the people who live today. That is because the company names may have changed, but their objectives and manners of operation and exercising imperialism remain the same these days.
These companies engage the same strategies that they used to influence the rulers of those days. ‘‘United Fruit Company’’ poem can work with only the name of the company being replaced with another that is operating these days. Otherwise, it passes for an informative piece of masterwork.
Works Cited
Bucheli, Marcello. Good Dictator, Bad Dictator: United Fruit Company and Economic Nationalism in Central America in the Twentieth Century, 2006. Web.
Neruda, Pablo. The United Fruit Co. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.