Postcolonialism Oppresion in Morrison's Tar Baby - Book Report/Review Example

May 20, Postcolonialism Oppression in Morrison’s Tar Baby Colonialism expanded racist and gender prejudice which postcolonial civil rights movement struggled to end. When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, it banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, and national origin. This law also gives the federal government with the powers to implement desegregation. Morrison’s Tar Baby shows, however, that laws are not enough to end postcolonial social conflicts. The novel’s setting is the 1970s and intersected the Caribbean, New York City, and Florida. Jadine “Jade” Childs met Son, an uneducated African American man. Their lives intertwined and clashed, until their final divergence, where both Son and Jade challenged the social institutions that curtailed their individualistic interests. This paper takes a sociological approach in analyzing the novel. Tar Baby demonstrates that postcolonialism is more or less like colonialism with pervading traditional racial and gender attitudes, although several blacks, such as the Childs, have developed an acute sense of self-importance and independence. Social structures changed since postcolonial times, but also remained poisoned with racism and sexism, while new forms of social conflicts attacked individualist yearnings. The novel establishes class structures, where racial lines divide the upper white class from the black working class, while the blacks are further divided between those who relish the past and wanted to hold on to it and those who commanded new power even over lower social class blacks. Grewal analyzes the social conflicts in Tar Baby. He stresses: “…Tar Baby depicts the struggle over cultural definitions and identifications in a postmodern world” (204). Class and race conflicts coincide with individualistic struggles and result to complex character developments. In the Caribbean, class conflicts persist along racial lines. When Valerian needed to have his toothache checked, the novel shows that the dentist does not accept black clients: “The dentist …had been run out of Algeria and thought his door was being assaulted by local Blacks-whose teeth he would not repair” (Morrison 265). Valerian is friendly toward his black household help though, while Margaret treats them well too. She has no friends outside their home, however, and when she wanted to be closer to Ondine, Valerian opposed it. Valerian represents the continuation of white supremacy through racial prejudice. Despite the low treatment of blacks, Sydney and his wife have amassed power inside the Street household. It can be seen from how Sydney speaks with Valerian that he has come far from his slavery roots. For instance, Sydney tells Valerian that croissants are supposed to crumble when eaten, since the latter complains that it is flaky: “Croissant [sic] supposed to be flaky. That’s as short a dough [sic] as you can make” (Morrison 301). Arrogance and tenderness both tinge his language and interaction with his white master. Sydney also values his work, which indicates his self-importance. He explains to Valerian why he cannot wear slippers, even when he has bunions: “I know my work. I’m a first-rate butler and I can’t be first-rate in slippers” (Morrison 340). He knows that he is a first-rate worker, and even better than other household helpers with lower and less clear roles and responsibilities in the house. Postcolonial oppression evolves and remains. It remains when whites look down on blacks, while it changes, as blacks look down on whites and other blacks who are different from who they are. Valerian, however, can no longer hold on to the Childs, because they are not his slaves. When Margaret talks about the possibility that they will open their retail shop and leave him, they broach the subject of allegiance, or in plainer terms, a slave’s loyalty to his white master. She says to Valerian: “And they will do the same for you. God knows they will. You couldn’t pry them out of here. With or without Jade. They are yours for life” (Morrison 551). She still sees black people as slaves who are indebted to their white oppressors. The Childs, on the contrary, believe that they are superior to other blacks and even to the Streets. They cannot even try remembering the names of other black household help. They just call Gideon as the Yardman, and Therese and Alma Estee as “one of them Marys [sic]” (Morrison 727). These practices suggest an attitude of black superiority that clashes with the idea of a homogenous black community. The Childs also handle decisions in the house as if they own it. Margaret asks for chicken on Christmas, but Ondine does not ask the Yardman to buy it, for example. Jadine also has reservations with her black identity. Growing up and studying in Europe has detached her from her black roots. Son, on the contrary, wants Jadine to become a traditional “Negro” woman. He clings to the past that slowly crumbles before him, as Jadine shows him her strong resistance to black traditions. Women from Son’s community also strive to change Jadine. In Eloe, Jadine feels like an outsider, as black women around her try to both repossess her and Son. Her greatest conflict, nevertheless, occurs with their aims of changing her through localizing her roots and future endeavors. She does not want others to change her in any way at all. In “Three Meals: Eating Culture in Toni Morrison's Tar Baby,” Hill examines the role of food in exposing the social, economic, and political repercussions of having access, or lack thereof, to food. She argues that Morrison uses food practices to argue that food cannot be detached from its connection to the complex networks of cultural and political power (Hill 288). Hill asserts that “power over food is directly connected to power over individuals…” (288). For instance, when Valerian and Margaret has a fight over breakfast and Christmas dinner, it shows power and gender struggles. Valerian does not only control his black employees, but also Margaret, who has developed a psychological problem already because of her powerlessness as a human being. Margaret suffers from anxiety and depression, because she has no friends and family in the house. As Margaret and Valerian Street try to have breakfast together, their means of consumption signify the status of their relationships with each other, with their servants, and with the adjacent island. Studying her meal, Margaret notes “the pale wedges Sydney placed before her. Ondine had left the spiky skin on the underside deliberately- ‘just to hurt and confuse her’” (Morrison 413). The pineapple is instantly hateful to Margaret, “pale” and “spiky,” the fruit has become unattractive and violent-looking. Hill notes that Margaret’s reaction to the food is “extreme,” but it explains racial and gender issues. Valerian, the white master, controls food choices, while also controlling the food that Margaret can and cannot eat. In addition, the fruit represents the black locals, including the slaves, who are both unattractive and violent too to Margaret (Hill 288). Margaret seeks to have power in the house by asking for a mango, even when she barely eats it too. Food provides space for racial and gender battles that are wrought within households. The setting represents the uprooting that black and white communities feel in a postcolonial society. Grewal argues that “ecological damage is the visible counterpart of cultural displacement, both long-term effects of colonization” (210). This is shown in Chapter 1, when Morrison describes the conflict between the forces of nature and man. Human civilization rapidly consumes land and natural resources; another way of saying this is that humanity endlessly rapes Nature. The Caribbean is a landscape torn under capitalism and acts as a “metaphor of cultural rootlessness in a novel whose characters are displaced or in exile of one kind or another” (Grewal 210). Valerian, Marget, Michael, the Childs, and Son are “unsettled beings” (Grewal 210). Like their torn landscape, society and personal conditions have colonized them and prevent them from making independent decisions in life. Valerian is hinged on the Caribbean because he wants to establish his autonomy through his household. Margaret wants to run away from their house, because of her guilt and anxiety for her past abuses and current social detachments. The Childs want to go back to their community, but they also desire Jadine to stay with them. Son seeks to be reunited with his community and wants Jadine to join him. Jadine loves Son, but loves her freedom more. Jadine’s relationship with Son demonstrates the conflict between the old and the new black identity. Morrison uses the third person point-of-view to demonstrate a form of objectivity for the characters. She wants her readers to try understand that these characters are not figuratively black and white, but people with complex personalities. Son represents the old black, one who believes in the strength of the black collective. Jadine stands for the new black identity, particularly one who struggles with her twoness. She is white and black and at the same time, because of her education (her white identity) and racial roots. Unlike Son, she wants a future that she defines without pressures from the Childs, Streets, or even from Son. When she and Son return to New York, their differences become more pronounced. Jadine wants them to prepare for the future and asks Son to make a mark in modern society. Son looks back to his past and desires for Jadine to learn the traits of the women in his community who loved and nurtured him. Chadwick remarks on the dialectics of bigotry in the novel: “Both want to rescue the other from ‘misguided’ worldviews” (3). Neither of them is willing to buckle however, although the ending of the plot shows that Son’s love for Jadine usurps his need for a traditional black life and identity. He changes, although it is done to fight for his Jadine, instead of change that comes from his own volition. The universality of humanity prevents readers from judging any character too harshly, so that they can analyze the complex relationships between individuals and their society. Shuman argues that Morrison used “feet” as a metaphor to demonstrate the “universality of human needs and emotions” (3). Son loses his shoes when he abandoned the ship, while Sydney suffers from tender bunions. Valerian also complains of his painful corns. Sydney massages Ondine’s sore feet to demonstrate his love for her. Sydney’s sense of work ethics made him disagree with wearing slippers on the job. Jadine shows her high education and social class through wearing high-heeled boots. Shuman contends that the “human condition is universal, but as society is structured- perhaps immutably- inequalities exist” (3). The “feet” represent the idea that all people share the same sentiments and hardships in life. Readers cannot say that Valerian is not entirely a bad master, since he treats his black helpers with kindness and a measure of respect. Margaret also deserves some pity. She marries too young and cannot handle the demands of motherhood, so she abuses Michael as a baby. The Childs are not perfect too, because they discriminate against lower-class black people. Some might criticize Jadine for not showing gratitude toward the Childs, but she also deserves the right to shape her own life. Son messes up the lives of the Childs and Streets, only because society also messed up his identity. Shuman explains what Morrison aims to do with such complex characters: “By having her characters confront such issues as racism, sexism, classism, and regionalism, and by merging and converging conflicting cultures and myths into her unified narrative, Morrison demonstrates that one can organize one’s world and one’s understanding of it without binary thinking” (4). The main impact is to use these characters to depict the theme of individualism versus collectivism. Society shapes individuals, but individuals shape society too. If society resists shaping, individuals can carve their own identities, even if it means shunning their society. The work suggests solutions to social conflicts by enabling individuals to express themselves in their own terms without judgment from traditional and emerging sources of power and authority. Jadine wants Son to go to college and select a career. He opposes Jadine's efforts and criticizes her for acting and thinking like a white man, for being the tar baby that white people make to ensnare a black man: “You think I won’t do all that company shit because I don’t know how? I can do anything! Anything! But I’ll be goddamn if I’ll do that!” (Morrison 4581). He asserts to Jadine that he can do anything, but they are too easy for him. Son refuses to be whitened by the white man’s laws and educational system: “I don’t want to know their laws” (Morrison 4457). Jadine retorts: “Stop loving your ignorance – it isn’t lovable” (Morrison 4485). She rescues herself from being a black man’s tar baby. She does not want to be a tar baby of anyone, so she leaves and goes to Paris instead. The ending shows that people have to make choices, no matter how hard they are. Son leaves the boat to find the legendary blind horsemen rumored to disturb the island. This is his own choice, to be bonded forever to his black traditions. Tar Baby signifies the social status struggles that intersect gender and racial boundaries. The theme of individualism versus collectivism is relevant up to now, because interracial marriages and immigration have led to second and third-generation children, who also struggle in defining their identities. These people want to shape their individual personalities without fully embracing past traditions. Sometimes, they even oppose and denigrate the past. The past generations, however, cannot force their children to uphold their heritage. They can only teach them about their culture and let them decide for their own. The more they want a tar baby, the more they lose their babies. The solution that the novel offers is to let the children choose who they want to be, without being a tar baby to anyone but themselves. Works Cited Chadwick, Lauren. “Tar Baby.” Masterplots II: African American Literature (2008): 1-4. Print. Grewal, Gurleen. “Critical Readings: Prospero’s Spell and the Question of Resistance: Tar Baby.” Critical Insights: Toni Morrison (2010): 203-223. Print. Hill, Cecily E. “Three Meals: Eating Culture in Toni Morrison’s Tar Baby.” Midwest Quarterly 53.3 (2012): 283-298. Print. Morrison, Toni. Tar Baby. New York: Vintage, 1981. Kindle. Print. Shuman, R. Baird. “Tar Baby.” Masterplots II (2000): 1-3. Print. Read More