Their apples fall down
And rot on the ground—
They don’t spray their trees,
Trees need care,
You can tell they’re no good
That live there
Apples are high—
That shows they’re scarce,
Still, the stories always seem to have plenty.
Can’t get a price
The farmer’s say
Shatara D. Oliver
Professor Konkol
American Drama 340
26 October 2016
Lorine Niedecker
The author starts by stating how the apples that become rotten are due to the tree that was not taking care of properly. With the apples and trees not being taken care of they are all useless. The author could be comparing the apples and trees to herself. She uses the idea of absurdism, draining away the sense of meaning and purpose of her life and her reality. She turns a mirror on herself about the ugly reality of the people and her surroundings. The authorial persona is centered around the idea of catharsis, that releases and shows emotion towards the audience. It could also be determined that she could have been dealt a bad hand in life, and the people that she let in, let her down by not taking care of her, the way that she took care of them; which contributes to the overwhelming state of reality. The reality is everything and everybody does not have your best interest at heart, they have to first take care of themselves, and then you which shifts from society to self. This encourages a reader to identify themselves through her writings.
The author then goes on to state that “apples are high” away from everyone, and that is why they are scarce. There are stories that could come from this experience; that is why this lesson does not come at a price. The author uses her own experiences about life to transform the audience’s lives through the use of romanticism, imagery, voice, tone, and even social standards. The lower class in the higher classes mind is that they are worthless and sometimes do not even exist in their lives, without realizing that the lower class holds the foundations; even though the higher class is above them they do not help them but hurt them which corrupts society. Which contributes to the idea of myth, that is the culturally important truth. By the tree failing to be clean, and no longer being taken care of, they are rebelling against the upper class. The lower class appears to be a transcend list by trying to be different and rebellion against society. This causes chaos in the society the higher class starts questioning reality while the lower class is pushing border lines and limits.
In conclusion, the author sheds light on different issues such as lower class versus higher class and the questioning of what appears to be something but, actually is not. She challenges views on personal relationships as well. Good friendships are hard to come by that is why they are so scarce especially in this society. Lorine identifies the broken foundations in humans and shines morals in mankind.
