“Strange Fruit” by Abel Meeropol displays great example of acceptance. Although this poem refers to specific events that occurred several years ago, this poem captures a great feeling of acceptance since it shows how African-Americans of the past were not accepted or treated as people; which is something relevant and relatable to this day. “Strange Fruit” protests against African-American lynching during the 1930s as it was common in the South. It narrates the sadness, desperation, and sorrow of many African-Americans that were oppressed by the white supremacy of the Jim Crow laws. Through the use of irony and metaphor, Meeropol illustrates the poem’s theme of protest and racism by criticizing the way African-Americans were treated.
One …show more content…
This shows how Meeropol contrasts the “gallant” South and the “scent of magnolia” with the “bulging eyes and the twisted mouth” along with the “smell of burning flesh” to demonstrate how inhumane the treatment of African-Americans in the South was in a satirical way. Through his sarcasm, we can understand the sorrow and difficulty African-Americans had living since they were not seen as people under the Jim Crow laws.
Another literary technique that Meeropol uses to protest against the injustice and intolerance towards African-Americans is metaphor. Through the use of metaphor Meeropol expresses the severity of lynching and the misery and sorrow African-Americans went through. Meeropol states:
Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
With this example, Meeropol demonstrates how sever, cruel and inhumane the treatment of African-Americans was in the South as he describes the blood on the leaves as the black bodies swing on the poplar trees. It compares the “Black bodies” of lynched Africans-Americans to a “Strange fruit” swinging in the “southern breeze”. Meeropol demonstrates a very different and unique way of showing genocide, but at the same time it also captures the grief and misery of many African-Americans during the
One …show more content…
This shows how Meeropol contrasts the “gallant” South and the “scent of magnolia” with the “bulging eyes and the twisted mouth” along with the “smell of burning flesh” to demonstrate how inhumane the treatment of African-Americans in the South was in a satirical way. Through his sarcasm, we can understand the sorrow and difficulty African-Americans had living since they were not seen as people under the Jim Crow laws.
Another literary technique that Meeropol uses to protest against the injustice and intolerance towards African-Americans is metaphor. Through the use of metaphor Meeropol expresses the severity of lynching and the misery and sorrow African-Americans went through. Meeropol states:
Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
With this example, Meeropol demonstrates how sever, cruel and inhumane the treatment of African-Americans was in the South as he describes the blood on the leaves as the black bodies swing on the poplar trees. It compares the “Black bodies” of lynched Africans-Americans to a “Strange fruit” swinging in the “southern breeze”. Meeropol demonstrates a very different and unique way of showing genocide, but at the same time it also captures the grief and misery of many African-Americans during the