Key Facts
full title · Tar Baby
author · Toni Morrison
type of work · Novel
genre · Postcolonial novel; African American novel; city novel;
romance novel; historical novel
language · English
time and place written · 1980s, New York City
date of first publication · 1981
publisher · Vintage Books
narrator · A roving anonymous voice narrates the novel.
point of view · Omniscient. The narrator speaks in the third person
and tells the reader what many of the different characters in the
novel think or feel, particularly Jadine, Son, Valerian, and Margaret. Sometimes
the narrator describes scenes as they would appear to an outside
observer.
tone · Poetic, factual, colloquial, angry, uncertain
tense · Present and past
setting (time) · Mostly the late 1970s, but with
flashbacks to different moments beginning in the early twentieth
century and continuing into the seventies
setting (place) · L'Arbe de la Croix, Isle des Chevaliers; Paris; New
York; Eloe, Florida; Queen of France
protagonist(s) · Jadine Childs and Son
major conflict · Jadine and Son represent two different ways forward
for their race: a pursuit of culture and a pursuit of nature, respectively. The
two characters come together as lovers and try to harmonize their
oppositions, but in the end they are too different and cannot be
synthesized.
rising action · Son arrives at L'Arbe de la Croix and meets Jadine;
the two of them make love for the first time after an emotionally
violent Christmas dinner; they run away to New York together and enjoy
a solitary life together for a time; they go to Son's childhood
home in Florida.
climax · Jadine is traumatized by a dream she has one night
in Florida of women exposing their breasts to her; after her vision
she loses interest in her relationship to Son and stops trying to
relate to his vision of nature. She goes in search of civilization
and culture once again.
falling action · Jadine goes back to New York. Son follows her, and
they fight often. After a particularly exhausting fight, she returns
to Isle des Chavaliers and then goes to Paris; Son follows her to
the island but likely stays there even though she has left.
themes · The shackles of femininity; nature vs. civilization;
the connections between youth and power
motifs · The tar baby story; the myth of the wild horsemen;
the blackness of nature
symbols · The greenhouse; hair; the sealskin coat
foreshadowing · The first chapter of the novel foreshadows its closing
scene.
