The novel by Toni Morrison, Tar Baby, is a tale of the disputable plight of racially segregated African Americans and the underlying discrimination based on the racial prejudice and biases. The conflicts presented in the novel are portrayed in the character shades of the protagonist, Jadine, who is charged with an act of racial sedition as she pursued her dreams by abandoning her true culture and racial heritage. The novel uses the polemic viewpoints present in the character of Jadine to delineate the racial prejudice which exists at a different level of interaction within the society. Morrison’s primary aim is to explain the racial prejudice that exists when the black and white members interact with each other during the routine operations. He also used the novel’s plot to explain how prejudice exists between the blacks themselves owing to varying degrees of servitude and power granted to them.
In the novel, the protagonist Jadine’s family, the black cooks of the Valerian household, Sydney and Odine Childs considered them to be superior to the local black people and relied upon their higher social status that was developed due to their industrious nature. The white owner of the house, Margaret and Valerian treat the workers with scorn and contempt and use some derogatory ‘names’ to show them the true class of servitude. The novel brings the innate sense of prejudice among blacks by explaining how they treated other peoples from their race with prejudice when their lives were more under the effect of the White society. For example, Jadine had a white boyfriend named Ryk who gifted her with a sealskin coat but as she was trying it on, Son saw her and made lewd sexual remarks on her for her efforts to be a part of the white society and considers her to be a racial traitor. The argument between Son and Jadine is well crafted in the novel to bring out the instance of hidden prejudice when he explained Jadine that Valerian enslaved her family as she owned him for her education. Finally, Jadine flees from the scene when she rejected her heritage and racial values for the final time to embrace the white ethnicity.
Tom Morrison used the analogy from the story of the rivalry between the rabbit and the fox where the Fox uses a Tar Baby (dummy) to trap the rabbit by placing it in his way in a pit. However, the rabbit outsmarted the fox by tricking her to help him escape out of the pit. The novel signifies the rabbit to be the black slave who tricked his master to support his escape.
Analyzing the connection between ‘Tar Baby’ by Toni Morrison and "Race Matters" by Cornell West
The book by Cornell West, Race Matters, draws the reader’s attention towards the important aspect of the involvement of black in authoritative powers and the consequent involvement of spiritual elements in determining the progressive factors for the ascent of blacks in the American society. The importance of the title of the novel is envisaged by the fact that race is the only mandatory consideration for all the important decisions in the American society and hence, the race matters. The novel raises the aspect of the nihilism of the African American culture as the prime cause for uprooting all the fundamentals of black progress in the society because of their loss of hope and lack of a proper motive for living in the society. The novel includes the two crucial factors of establishing an economic well-being and developing a specific political clout for the African Americans to determine the true essence of their progress in America. The novel explores the role of some tough issues which pose a hindrance to the progressive stance of the blacks in the American society in spite of the political and social efforts applied in this regard. Some these issue include black sexuality, impact of black rage, failure in political leadership, etc.
Black sexuality is generally perceived as a taboo in the American society because it leads to that black power on which the Americans have very little influence and control. Other taboo subjects related to the black community involve those of anti-Semitism and the homophobia which can be removed by eradicating the color based discrimination in the society. The book also discusses the role of black rage and Malcolm's mass movement for blacks by using international alliances to explain how the blacks’ outlook regarding their existence differed from that of white Americans.
The connection between Tar Baby and Race Matters can be developed on three basic fronts which lie common to the central theme of both the books. Firstly, both the books have a central theme of the perceived difference of racial prejudice in the American society for blacks and speak about the role of biases in determining the social evolution of blacks. Secondly, the context of black sexuality and feminism are predominant in both the books as one of the prime causes which have led to widening of gap between the desired progress and actual state for black Americans. Finally, both of the books have a unique analytical insight over how the white Americans perceive the leadership and progressive stance of the black populace in their society.
A critical question related to the ‘Tar Baby’
The biggest point of contention raised in the novel, Tar Baby, is that why the family members of Jadin eyed her as a ‘racial traitor’ and to be someone ‘out of reach’ when she pursued a modeling career by abandoning her traditional black and embraced the white culture? This question seeks an explanation whether the black community has accepted the cultural nihilism as its fate and has got no more optimism to have a progressive stance in the society.
