Tar Baby (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Toni Morrison
- First Published: 1981
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: The 1970’s
- Setting: The Caribbean, New York City, and Florida
- Principal Characters: William “Son” Green, Jadine “Jade” Childs, Valerian Street, Margaret Street, Sydney Childs, Ondine Childs
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: African Americans, 1970’s, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Africa or Africans, Caribbean, Class conflict, Racism, Blacks, Slavery or slaves, New York City, Interracial relationships, Servants, Models, fashion
- Locales: Caribbean, New York, NY, Florida, Isle de Chevaliers, Caribbean
The Novel
The tar baby in Morrison’s title is Jade, an intelligent black woman, orphaned and Paris-educated, who at twenty-five stands poised between two worlds. The world into which she was born is that of her aunt and uncle, Sydney and Ondine Childs, servants to the affluent Streets. Impressed by Jade’s unique abilities, the Streets have provided the wherewithal for her to study art history at the Sorbonne. Jade functions socially both in the world of the Streets and the world of the Childses. Tar Baby, a polemical novel, projects Jade’s two worlds effectively....
[The entire page is 3123 words long]
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