"Strange Fruit"

Paper Summary:

The author of this paper finds that the novel is built around a thesis that states there is an inability of both whites and blacks to let go of age old prejudice and bigotry. It then expands to include a 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. Many quotes are used as evidence to support the thesis.

From the Paper:

"It's Maxwell, Georgia and the whites treat the blacks like sub-human beings and the blacks only show respect for the whites out of fear. 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. Tracy, a product of the old south, is as much a victim of it's ways as is Nonnie. Because Nonnie is black he cannot for more than a brief second dream of living out his love. When after a moment of passion, Tracy uses the word "we" in regard to a future with Nonni,e he sees something happen to her face "as if he had lighted ten thousand candles with one small half-thought-out word" (38). He has uttered the unthinkable, the possibility of a real life together."

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