Analysis Of Strange Fruit

821 Words2 Pages

Tyler Talbot
U0574986
3/2/13
Strange Fruit
The text is the main engine of “Strange Fruit”. The music may be thought of as the wheels, the way in which the idea spread and the manner in which it was presented. However, the text is what stands out to me; it is what makes it come to life, the hand in the glove. The text utilizes the tree and fruit motif as the literal setting of lynching as well as a metaphor for something bigger than each individual event. Abel Meeropol’s poignant words nail the atrocities to the people responsible for committing them. He doesn’t haphazardly mention trees in a general sense, but “Southern trees”. It is not simply in the air, but the “southern breeze” that black bodies swing in. In case the reader is tempted to forget, he reiterates that these things are taking place in the “gallant south”. The implication is quite powerful; this is the South’s problem, it is happening, and he forces them to own it and take responsibility for it rather than slough it off. Neutral bystanders in the South are forced to face the reality of these things taking place under their nose. “Strange Fruit” certainly would not have exposed the South to lynching; they knew it was happening. However, the text has a way of burrowing into one’s heart and forcing people to face inconvenient realities that are all too easy to forget about otherwise.
As Pete Seeger said in the video, most people fail at describing music’s influence in words, but I will try my best. Music, and movements, almost always go hand-in-hand, each drawing strength and influence from the other. “Strange Fruit” and the anti-lynching movement were no exceptions to this rule. Music does not operate in a vacuum, and it is only fitting that it should reflect the ...

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...ites were being raised with the notion that African-Americans were somehow nonhuman, other, and utterly detached; along comes this metaphor, reinforcing that we are all inextricably tied to one another. “Blood on the leaves, and blood at the root,” the current generation responsible for lynching has blood on their hands, and the next generation is inheriting their ideas. The depiction of blood at the root is why “Strange Fruit” is still relevant; ideas, like plants, continue to grow as long as they are rooted in the ground. Though the lynching generation appears to be gone, racism and hate still finds roots in this generation; awareness of this is the only way to know to look for the weed when it springs up again to properly eradicate it.

Bibliography
Strange Fruit. Dir. Joel Katz. N.d. J. Willard Marriott Library: The University of Utah. 2002. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.

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