Summary of “Tar Baby” :
Tar Baby is an interesting novel in that it is the love story of two black individuals. Typically, in literature we have seen the plight of the interracial couple explored; however, in Tar Baby, we see the plight of a couple within the Black race explored, (Morrison, Tony, pg. 3). Tar Baby essentially highlights the hierarchy within the Black classes as the two characters explore their potential to have a viable love affair. What ends up transpiring as a result is that the characters face the fact they often feel homeless in the world around them because it is so difficult to bring together a lifestyle that comprises their two different social classes of upbringing, (Morrison, Tony, pg. 39).
The main female lead in the story is of the utmost upper class of the black world and is a fashion model whose parents have connections to the elite white society, (Morrison, Tony, pg.10). This places the female character in an entirely different stratosphere of social circles than that of the male who washed up at the female’s estate in the Caribbean on a raft, (Morrison, Tony, pg. 11). The couple is from two entirely different backgrounds; however, they do find love in the classic way as is explored in the books without rhyme or reason.
Tar Baby explores the battle that the girl and the male face in their quest to find a place in the world where they can successfully live and be together, (Morrison, Tony, pg.19). This highlights issues that many couples have faced regardless of race due to the social class systems that exist around the world. The reason for this is that many times, these romances fail because when one is brought up a certain way, it is difficult to escape their roots. As much as we would like to believe this, Tar Baby illustrates an important point that it is very difficult for the characters to find a place where they can live successfully because each one of their proper homes where they were brought up is a painful reminder of how different their backgrounds are and how different their realistic social statuses are.
Connection With “Race Matters:”
Race Matters by Cornel West is a fascinating book that explores the social class of race. The reason that this book is so interesting is that it is not just another book that complains about how life has been unfair to blacks within the United States. Instead, the book focuses on how the concept of “nihilism” plagues the blacks in America rather than racism itself. “Nihilism” is defined by West as the feeling and/or sense of worthlessness that most blacks experience in their mindset, (West, Cornel, pg. 3).
Race Matters absolutely relates to Tar Baby because of the aspect of the lack of social class upbringing that the male character can never seem to get around in his romance with the sophisticated black woman. This is important to highlight because throughout the novel, they do fail at where they are trying to make a life together and a great deal of this is surely caused by the man’s sense of “Nihilism.”
Cornel West argues that the racial divide that exists in the United States also affects the social classes that exist in the white and black worlds separately, (West, Cornel, pg. 5). This is an important distinction because these divides are what in many cases, cause the blacks to have the negative reputation that they do by committing crimes and the like in the United States. Additionally, the low level of education in the inter-city schools can be attributed to this notion of “nihilism” that shows the black students that they are not capable of achieving more in the United States.
This sense of lack of worth is still apparent in the United States even after the Civil Rights Era has come to a close because the divide is still there and the lack of worth/ lack of potential effort by these blacks to rise up and do something else. Of course, there are exceptions to this; however, it is important to assess where these standards come from and whether they are something that can be fought in this lifetime or whether it is going to take the next generation to battle these ideals even further.
Come Up With Question Based on Tar Baby:
Tar Baby represents many different curiosities when studying the history of race within the United States. My question for Tar Baby would be what the class and/or author would think if the characters moved to Brazil, which as lower racial divide? The reason that I ask this is that Brazil does not have the same racist issues and perhaps, the male would be able to overcome his sense of “nihilism” that exists within his person and thrive in Brazil. This could give the couple a chance to explore living in an environment where racism and classism are not such predominant issues that plague them on a daily basis. That being said, these issues are difficult to overcome, but it would be fascinating to explore the thoughts and opinions on the Brazilian issue.
Works Cited
Morrison, Tony. “Tar Baby.” Penguin Group. New York. 1981 Print. Pp. 1-42.
West, Cornel. “Race Matters.” First Vintage Books Edition, 1994. Print. Pp. 2-18.
