원문정보
Toni Morrison’s Tar Baby : Quest for the Whole Survival
초록
영어
In Tar Baby, Toni Morrison uses Tar Baby folklore to represent the protagonists’ whole survival. The main characters of this novel, Jadine and Son, are like Tar Babies in the folklore which ensnare others. Jadine is a new black woman who has the ability to succeed in a white-dominated world, but doesn’t have a useful connection with the African American community, culture and history. Son is a nature-friendly man who thinks highly of brotherhood and the black community. There are other characters who have much influence on Jadine and Son. Especially, there is Valerian Street who supports Jadine’s education and tries to instill white values and standards into her. Therese, on the other hand, makes Son avoid getting trapped like a rabbit who sticks to Tar Baby. Morrison shows the conflicts resulting from the different views of these characters. However, Morrison doesn’t show any easy solution or preferable choice. Rather, she makes the reader and characters ponder over a course for the whole survival. The conclusion of Tar Baby also emphasizes Morrison’s intention: Jadine gets on the plane for Paris, and Son runs into the place where people think the legendary blind cavalry soldiers ride horses timelessly. This open-endedness, like Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man, clearly shows the possibility of whole survival and expanded vision.
목차
Abstract