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Strange Fruit

The author neglects to tell us that these bodies are hanging by the neck. He just says "Strange fruit swinging from the poplar trees". This line tells you that he is not just talking about a tire swing. .
             When Billie Holiday sings these lines she makes this terrifying scenario sound beautiful. Almost like this is not strange but the most natural thing in the world. This just adds to the haunting movements of this song. It reminds me of the next day when the deed is done and can be seen by all who dare to look. She makes this sound like a surreal experience for anyone who was witness to it.
             The line, "Pastoral scene of the gallant South", on first read brings to mind the beautiful countryside of the proud South. It makes you envision field after field of cotton or hay, cows in the pastures and farmers on tractors. But the word pastoral can also mean of religion. This line gives us images of a place where religion and morals rule. But when you read the next line those honorable images are smashed by the truth. .
             With the next line Billie sounds like she is taking a crack at the southern establishment. There is just a hint of irony in her voice. The line, "The bulging eyes and twisted mouths", smashes the mirage of flourishing agriculture and Christianity and shows the truth of what was happening in the south. This line has the most grotesque imagery in the poem. It is appalling to imagine.
             "Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh, and the sudden smell of burning flesh", is Abel Meerosol showing the two contrasting faces of the South. On the surface the air is sweet and fresh but if you want to scratch away a bit at the surface you will find death. This is another line to show the hypocrisy of the people at the time. .
             The next line, "Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck", gives images that make you think of something that was so good and sweet but now is just rotten and being eaten by foul scavengers.


Essays Related to Strange Fruit

1. Strange Fruit by Joy Harjo

In the dark poem "Strange Fruit," author Joy Harjo, explores the difficulties that minorities in the world. Throughout the poem, there is a reoccurring theme of hatred and violence, ... of the violent hatred towards minorities. This poem is written and narrated in the first person from the Female's perspective. If one is familiar with the song, strange fruit, by Billie Holiday; one would get a sense as to what to expect from the poem, which is that it involves lynching (Execution usually by hanging, ... how gruesome humanity can be. Unlike the song by Billie Holiday, also called 'Strang...

  • Word Count: 1038
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Comparison between the tell tale heart and the fruit at the

... -not destroyed-not dulled them'. The mad man killed the old man and then cut him up and put him under the floorboards of the house. 'The fruit at the bottom of the bowl' is a story about a man (William Acton) who killed his neighbour (Huxley) because he thought that Huxley was having ... my opinion I think that this is no good reason for killing a human being the is like me killing someone because they have ginger hair whereas is 'The fruit at the bottom of the bowl' William Acton has a good enough reason about killing Huxley well maybe not a big reason, but at least a normal reason ... ...

  • Word Count: 2030
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

3. United Fruit Company and Central America

... and the establishment of the assembly line, automobile became affordable for everyone. Many railroad companies tended to shift their business to foreign country to solve their difficulties. While United Fruit Company dominated railroad track in the isolated jungle area, International Railway Company (IRC) controlled the main routed that connected Mexico through south Guatemala. With too little traffic to support ... 1900 and 1913, about 20,000 people migrated to Costa Rica; they were attracted by the newly established United Fruit plantation. There were workers with various backgrounds, ...

  • Word Count: 3191
  • Approx Pages: 13
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. Strange

... . (The reason for the injection was the same as drinking the blood of a vampire, but more reliable.) So, on September 24, 1995, I went through with the ritual. I've heard of strange things happening in rituals, but this has to take the cake. I died. Literally. I stopped breathing, felt my heart stop and left my body. I later realized (has this happened in any ... blood is just that: lust. I felt like an adolescent looking at a porno-magazine. Feeding is as follows: I take vitamin B12 daily, in huge doses, and use various substitutes, including chocolate, fruit juices, etc. When I feed of...

  • Word Count: 826
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Forbidden Fruit

Various activities, such as drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco, and using psy- choactive drugs, have been prohibited by governments at various times. Os- tensible motives for the prohibitions have included helping people to lead "good- lives (in the opinion of the lawmakers) by keeping them from temptation, and preventing behavior that harms society as a whole. Evidently lawmakers have assumed that if they prohibit an activity deemed harmful, then the harm individuals do to them- selves and to society will decrease "corruption aside, why else would they impose such prohibitions? Let us examine ...

  • Word Count: 3739
  • Approx Pages: 15
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

6. With reference to either two plays by the same playwright, o

... yellow star to leaping into the lime-pit after Horst is killed, putting on his overcoat, and proceeding rather literally to 'come out'. "Strange Fruit," was first published in 1981. The main theme in this play is ethnicity and how racism shapes the identity of each of the characters in the play ... mother-country Africa. All of the characters in the play are caught between two cultures, even Shelley, the only white character in the play. The Mother in Strange Fruit, alike to Max in Bent, also hides her true identity to a certain extent. Unlike her friend Vernice who is also from the West...

  • Word Count: 2560
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Grade Level: High School

7. More than Meets the Eye (Taste in Disguise):

... delicious apple in New York State, that apple is thousands of miles from its original home. The domesticated apple, Malus Domestica, is a descendant of a strange tree from Eurasia. Malus Sieversii grows wild in the mountains of Kazakhstan, and in most of the forests is the dominant species of tree. The sight ... between Europe and Asia. This location was very important for the apple's introduction to Europe. Travelers on the silk route would routinely pick the fruit of these trees for sustenance along their trip, thus carrying them back to their homes in Europe. "Along the way seeds were...

  • Word Count: 2482
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Billie Holiday - The Voice of Jazz

... Heart" went straight to number two on the pop charts. In 1939, Billie would experience even more major success when she was introduced to the song "Strange Fruit", a song based on a poem about the horrific Lynching of African-Americans in the South, written by Abel Meeropol or Lewis Allan. Barney Josephson, then ... 1939, but with fear of how people, (whites) would react to the song. Holiday later said that the imagery in "Strange Fruit" reminded her of her father's death and that this played a major role in her not wanting to perform the song. Holiday's became even more popular ... a...

  • Word Count: 2313
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Billie Holiday

... hits like "Fine and Mellow" and "Lover Man", but none of these songs shocked the world like "Strange Fruit", a song about a lynching in the south. "Southern trees bear a strange fruit/ Blood on the leaves and blood at the root/ Black bodies swaying in the Southern breeze/ Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees (pbs.org)." At the time these lyrics were shocking to America and I"m sure ... in the world, but her lyrics possess such straight forward in your face honesty that you can feel deep down, and that is what American music is all about. I downloaded "Strange Fruit" and the song ...

  • Word Count: 568
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

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