Comparison Exercise 2

Write a critical discussion of the following TWO passages, pointing out features of comparison and/or contrast.

a) The author describes the experience of accompanying a Burmese prisoner to his execution while he worked with the British Colonial Police Force in Burma in the 1920s.

It was about forty yards to the gallows . I watched the bare brown back of the prisoner marching in front of me. He walked clumsily with his bound arms, but quite steadily. At each step, his muscles slid neatly into place, the lock of hair on his scalp danced up and down, his feet printed themselves into the wet gravel. And once, in spite of the men who gripped him by each shoulder, he stepped slightly aside to avoid a puddle on the path. It is curious, but till that moment I had never realized what it means to destroy a healthy, conscious man. When I saw the prisoner step aside to avoid the puddle, I saw the mystery, the unspeakable wrongness, of cutting a life short when it is in full tide. This man was not dying; he was alive just as we are alive. All the organs in his body were working – bowels digesting food, skin renewing itself, nails growing, tissues forming – all toiling away in solemn foolery. His nails would still be growing when he stood on the drop, when he was falling through the air with a tenth of a second to live. His eyes saw the yellow gravel and the grey walls, and his brain still remembered, foresaw, reasoned – even about puddles. He and we were a party of men walking together, seeing, feeling, understanding the same world; and in two minutes, with a sudden snap, one of us would be gone – one mind less, one world less.
From ‘Burmese Days’ by George Orwell (1903-1950)

b) In this blues song, Allen describes the bodies of black Americans who have been killed by racist gangs.

Strange Fruit

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.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Lewis Allen (1890 – 1954)

Suggested Answers to Comparison Exercise 2

1) Are we invited to empathise with the victims in these passages or to feel alienated from them?
Both passages invite the readers to empathise with the victims.
In the prose passage written by George Orwell, Orwell gives a detailled description of the prisoner to be executed and the process of proceeding to the gallows. By describing the "bare brown back" readers are told that the prisoner's upper torso must be naked. He does not even have clothes on. The diction of "marching" seems to suggest the dignity he still holds and that he has accepted the fact that he cannot rebel, and his only choice is to accept his fate. That he is walking himself closer to his death step by step makes us empathize with him. Orwell describes the experience of sending the man to death as "the mystery, the unspeakable wrongness, of cutting life short when it is in full tide", showing his sense of guilt and sympathy towards the prisoner. He also suggests the prisoner is actually "not dying", he is "alive" like everyone of us; the seconds in his life go on, still all the same as all men on Earth, "walking together", "seeing", "feeling", "understanding the same world".
The only twist is, "in two seconds" and "a sudden snap", the prisoner would be gone, and "one mind less, one world less" - we lost a men in our world within such swiftness, one less man to share our mind and world. Orwell points out the cruelty of death.
Looking at the context of the political situation in Burma, this prisoner was probably a political prisoner who is persecuted under the barbaric regime. During the time period, hundreds of Burmese prisoners were tortured and killed each day. Genocide against minority nations on the borders took place, as well as the imprisonment and killing of people who dared to speak the truth about the political situation. This is similar to the blues song, where innocent people are persecuted of their identity. Because these people have not done anything wrong but are killed, this rouses readers' sympathy.
In the blues song, Allen compares the dead bodies of black Americans to a "strange fruit". Allen describes the scene of dead bodies in details; "blood" on the bodies which are "hanging" and "swinging" from the poplar tress in the southern breeze. By describing the horrible scene, "bulging eyes and the twisted mouth" and with smell of "burning flesh", the black Americans are killed without any sympathy from others, and they die painfully, the author points out the the cruelty of the cold-blooded racists; he condemns them as what they have done destroy the peace in the "gallant south", contrasted with the original serenity, as depicted in "sweet and fresh" and "scent of magnolias". The originally peaceful pastures are no longer peaceful now, the blood of the "strange fruit" - "strange", as of an odd colour, in the racists' eyes - shed on them, and the tragedy will continue, for there will always be other races and more racists who will persecute people different from them--"here is a strange and bitter crop".
As the two passages both portray the pain and suffering of the victims, it is reasonable to assume that the authors are to arouse readers' sympathy and invite the readers to empathize with them.
It could be argued, though, that the poem actually alienates readers.
The choice and style of language and tone of a piece are some of the things that directs readers to feel empathy or alienation.
If we contrast the two pieces in terms of their focus, content, and especially style and tone, we can see very big differences. The prose excerpt focuses on inner thoughts and feelings within the narrator, while the poem focuses on images and descriptions of the horrible sight of corpses hanging from the trees. The prose excerpt is in first-person narrative, a straightforward, honest tone, while the poem is in a slightly detached voice.
Content-wise, in terms of descriptions of death, the prose obviously has more mild descriptions – the description of the hanging is only briefly presented as “with a sudden snap”, and death is brought out with the thought that “one of us would be gone – one mind less, one world less”. There is little or no bloodiness and violence. The narrator focuses more on his contemplations of life and death, rather than lengthy elaborations on the horrifying and bloody scenes of execution. The narrator lets us into his mind, and does not hesitate in pouring out directly and elaborately his thoughts and feelings in a very open, straightforward, honest, and wistful tone, letting us feel closer. This makes it easier for readers to empathize with the soon-to-be-hanged prisoner. Whatever crime the prisoner has committed, he is still very much alive, a living being, and it seems cruel (and even a waste) to take away from him that right to live.
In comparison, the poem does not have detailed description of feelings. Focusing on the poem, two things might alienate the reader: the VISUAL images painted, and the SOUNDS of the words.
The images portrayed are strange and vivid. If we think deeper to understand the imageries lying behind, we can feel the grotesqueness of the scene described – that the strange fruits hanging on the trees are actually dead bodies, which will be leave out to corrode and be pecked at by birds. Because of it’s unusualness, it’s strangeness, it’s vividness, readers might feel alienated, and choose to shudder instead of having time to develop empathizing feelings.
The descriptions can be seen as having a COMICAL touch. “Mouth twisted and eyes bulging” is quite comical, while “Swinging in the breeze” conveys a sense of light-heartedness.
When one is trying to convey sad feelings, the tone would usually be grieving, mournful, and slow. Dragged-out long vowels or heavy sounds, for example, might be used to create such effects. However, this poem, when read out in a certain way, can actually be quite fast-paced, with a rather perky air. The all-too-rhyming rhymes, such as “rot”, “drop”, “crop”, sounds rather chipper. It does not seem to bring out a very sad or gloomy atmosphere.
“Blood on the leaves and blood on the root” sounds a bit overly straightforward and simplistic for describing such a brutal and horrifying scene of bloody and even corroding bodies being hung on trees.
Repetition of “strange fruit” makes us wonder if it is really enough to convey the immense pain lying behind these deaths.
The scene painted is vivid, colourful, too much like a picture. Things like “sweet and fresh” flowers, magnolia, which are also known for being showy and brightly coloured, creates a jolly, pretty mood, which normally doesn’t seem to fit in with violent and disgusting bloodshed and deaths that well.
Throughout the poem, the poet just describes mostly visual scenes (of the bodies hanging from trees). There is practically no direct expression of thoughts and feelings, no confessions of pain. In conclusion, the tone and the style is so strange and vivid and grotesque at the same time, while the sounds are rather chipper and some places even comical instead of being very mournful, that it might all make readers rather alienated, rather than empathizing.


2) How is imagery used in each passage?
In the first passage, one imagery used is the “puddle”, the prisoner stepped slightly aside to avoid a puddle on the path. On one hand it shows that he is mentally and physically healthy and vigilant, on the other hand the puddle may foreshadow his doomed fate of being executed, and that his vain attempts to avoid the puddles will not be able to help him to escape from it. The “yellow gravel” and “grey walls” paint a picture of the monotonous splashes of colours at the prison, or perhaps the image may relate to grave (which is a symbol of death).This emphasizes the fact that the prisoner is doomed, and providing a touch of depression or death by making use the dull colours.
In the second passage, “strange fruit” bore by the southern trees is the symbol of the black people (strange as in different in skin colour) that will be ruthlessly killed. There is "blood on the leaves" and "blood at the root", depicting the large amounts of blood shed by these poor black people who have lost their lives to racists.

3) Which passage do you find more shocking? Why?
The poem is more shocking. The atmosphere is mysterious and creepy, and the moment of "scent of magnolias" being replaced by "smell of burning flesh" is a twisting point. It indicates how a life is beaten by death in a glimpse. Also, "blood on the leaves" and "blood at the root" is a description of an unusual scene, it makes readers feel uncomfortable. Especially whent he poet uses the "strange fruit" to symbolize the heads of the black people being hanged. The prose passage is a description of a prison on the way to execution, the author's feelings are what usual people will feel about the scene, so it does not surprise preaders much. Comparing to it, the poet uses irony to emphasize his detestation to the racists irrational killings of black people.


What is the author's stance in each passage?
The author of the prose passage does not think the prisoner deserves death. When the prisoner avoids stepping on the puddle, the author realizes that he is same as any of the others. He sees what others see. The author thinks sentencing a healthy men to death is an "unspeakable wrongness" and inhumane. He thinks all human beings are equal, there is no difference among any of us as human beings, and executing men is taking away one's right to live. He is sad to see a healthy man being executed, as he thinks he is as important as any other human beings, to the author, the death of the Burmese prisoner means "one world less".
Although the poet seems to be a calm narrator, he actually feels sad for the black people and thinks it is brutal to kill them. The author shows how he thinks about black people in stanza 2. "Pastoral" and "gallant" suggests that the author is being sacarstic, he is using some positive words 'praising' the scene of killed people being hanged all around. He describes the "bulging eyes" and "twited mouth" as "gallant", which shows his sadness and sympathy towards the black people. Here the author presented his unpleasant feeling, he disagrees on the act of killing black people. The scene described after the tree being destroyed is unpleasant, crows will "pluck", wind will "suck", sun will "rot" the fruit. It is a place where people will not want to get near to. Through the unpleasant atmosphere created in the poem, we can see that the poet doesn't think killing black people because of racial discrimination is right.
4) Can you find instances of contrast and irony? What effect do they have?
Contrast can be seen in A. When the prisoner still alive, the author describes his moments, how his muscles and his body functioned in detailed. "muscles slid nearlty into plave", "the lock of hair on his scalp danced up and down" , "bowels digesting food"," skin renewing itself" etc, the detailed description of his body movement emphasizes the fact that he is still alive, still a living thing. A contrast will be formed when later on the author said " with a sudden snap", "one mind less, one world less", he just simply uses few words to describe when the prisoner dead, "one mind less, one world less", a contrast is created, when he is alive, author uses terms and different phrases, to depict it, however after the prisoner dead, no movement, living cell is dead already, so no need further explain of descibe.

In passage B, "fruits" is used to compare and make a big contrast to the dead bodyies of the defeated, because fruits are like new born lives, while the bodies are actually dead and their lives come to an end. It is also an irony in the sense that in the comparison, one thing is born (fruit), one thing is killed. In the scene which "bulging eyes and twisted mouth" is associated with "pastoral scene of the gallant south", is more ironic when human being who are suppose to gain respect from all things now being treated as an object or a fruit "for the crows to pluck, rain to gather, wind to suck, sun to rot, and trees to drop" The irony presented shows that dead bodies are useless and being treat as an object, gaining no respect. Or on the other hand, it shows that the poet think death as a trivial thing which doesn't need to be fear.