World Literature

light

breaks

in two

tomato

halves,

and the streets

run

with juice.

In December

the tomato

cuts loose,

invades

kitchens,

takes over lunches,

settles

at rest

on sideboards,

with the glasses,

butter dishes,

blue salt-cellars.

It has

its own radiance,

a goodly majesty.

This poem can be classified as a political poem. Neruda is using the tomato to symbolize his country. One reading of the  word “halves” in the poem is that it refers to his country’s history.  Between the 15th century and the 19th century, Spain colonized Chile–a subject of great concern to Neruda.  Thus the two halves could represent the indigenous and the European people who continue to live together in Chile.   It might seem as if this poem is solely about the beauty of tomatoes, but key words such as “invade” and “take over” suggest military aggression.

Neruda uses words like “invades” and “takes over” to refer to Spain’s invasion in Chile

 

Spain has taken over Chile, and Chile was divided in half. In the lines ” invades kitchens, takes over lunches”, . The tomato is metaphors of Spain, and the “kitchens” is a metaphor of Chile. Beside a political poem, Neruda also uses a lot of imagery to develop the poem. In the line “and the streets run with juice”, Neruda gives reader an image of the red tomato juice in the street, which also gives us a historical image of Spain’s invasion in Chile that Chilen’s bloods were on the street and many Chilens killed by the Spainish.