RACIAL SEGREGATION AS AN UMBRELLA CAUSE OF UNCANNY AND UNCONTROLLED EXPLOITATION INTERACTED IN STRANGE FRUIT OF LILLIAN SMITH

Abstract

Lillian Eugenia Smith was an internationally acclaimed white southern writer in areas of economic, racial, and sexual discrimination during the 1930s and 1940s. Smith boldly and persistently called for an end to racial segregation, which reflects her personal knowledge and experience with the young black and white civil rights activists of the 1950s and 1960s. She became an outstanding innovative known for her analysis of southern culture, especially in understanding of the effects of child-nurturing practices on adult racial and sexual relationships.

                    Smith’s first novel Strange Fruit was translated into several languages. It is an interesting insightful exploration of the interrelationship of race, class, and gender in southern society, brought strong criticism from more moderate southerners. Smith's concerns extended beyond race relations to encompass all aspects of human relationships in the modern world. Strange fruit is a complex psychological novel about the inevitable destruction in a community when the reality and power of the irrational are unacknowledged in human life. It is a tragic story of Nonnie Anderson, an aware young black woman in the Georgia, and the young white man, Tracy Deen, by whom she is violated. It is a critique of isolation and discrimination.