“Choose Your Own” Book Review – Tar Baby By Toni Morrison – Blog Post 13

The book that I have chosen to read for our Toni Morrison “Choose Your Own” book report is entitled Tar Baby. This book follows the love story of Jadine and Son, two lovers who find themselves romantically involved after a chance meeting. Son, a young black man from Eloe, Florida, finds himself aboard a yacht that floats him away from the harbor of Queen of France and to a small island called Isle des Chevaliers. It is here that he finds hidden refuge within the Street family home and meets Jadine Childs, the niece of two of the Street’s in-house servants. Although both of the novel’s protagonists are black, their life experiences differ widely which ultimately shapes the way that society perceives them and vice versa. Morrison titles her book Tar Baby, an attribution to an age old folktale that describes a pesky cabbage stealing rabbit that meets his match when he encounters a tar doll that has been purposely set up by the afflicted farmer. The more the rabbit fights and interacts with the tar doll the more entangled it gets in the stickiness of the tar. She parallels this tale to Jadine’s very existence. This story is set in the late 1970s, a period in time that can be seen as a culmination of all the social progressive values that began to take root in the 1960s. The majority of Jadine’s adult life was spent abroad as she studied art history at the Sorbonne in Paris. She grew to unknowingly reject her blackness and began to assimilate within the white communities in which she lived and studied. This lead to her dealing with negative responses when interacting with other black women. When she and Son, who is Morrison’s chosen representation of a proud black man with the ability to navigate all areas of society, finally meet their opposing experiences within their community draw them to each other (not to mention, their physical attraction to one another). After getting to know each other, they almost instantly begin on a carefree journey of love and solitude starting by traveling to New York to live together. This quickly sours when the two decide to visit Son’s hometown of Eloe, Florida. Jadine is finally able to see that their differences are far too great for their relationship to proceed. She realizes during the trip that carrying on a relationship with Son would not account for the continued confliction she would feel within herself if she continued to attempt to please everyone. She left Son in Florida and ultimately the relationship altogether. Through the beginning of the novel, Jadine can be considered the “tar baby” as she is there to hold every relationship together in her life. She attempts to discover a new side of herself in order to be happy with Son and is seemingly the saving grace that holds together the Street’s dysfunctional marriage. As the novel progresses, she in my opinion becomes more self-aware and realizes that she doesn’t have to please anyone by conforming to the constraints created by race and/or gender.

1 Reply to ““Choose Your Own” Book Review – Tar Baby By Toni Morrison – Blog Post 13”

  1. This is really interesting plot of the book and much connected to my book “LOVE”. There is some kind of love story. Also, the idea of black upward mobility as you mentioned in white society was a part also in the book”Love”. The difference between these books is that “Love” introduces female in main character’s life as both good and bad impression while your book is stand with a single conflict having by all characters.
    *Really well organized plot and brief description about the characters, easy to follow through.

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