Lillian Smith's "Strange Fruit"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the novel "Strange Fruit" by Lilian Smith, published in 1947, showing how Smith builds her novel around the inability of both whites and blacks, to let go of age old prejudice and bigotry. Also analyzed are the ways is which Smith's themes and character depict not only southern racial difficulties, but also offer an optimistic vision of life as it might be, if humans could learn to live beyond limited color perceptions, and allow every individual to reach out for and embrace their own sense of acceptance, purpose and love in the world.

From the Paper:

"It's Maxwell, Georgia, a town where, according to appearances, people know their place. The whites, pretending only good will toward inferiors, treat the blacks like sub-human beings. The blacks, while on the surface behaving like they are too dumb to notice, only show respect for the whites out of fear. A young white man, Tracy Deen, who always disappoints his self-sacrificing mother, returns home from World War I. It is obvious that he loves Nonnie Anderson and she loves him, but he is white and she is colored. The respected position of her family in the town, and the fact that she has a college education, count for nothing."

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