Tar Baby

The Importance of Past vs Future in Tar Baby College

Tar Baby, written by Toni Morrison, tells the story of two people from two very different worlds and their journey to find love in a world filled with societal norms, discriminations, and strong ties to the past. The lives of Son and Jadine revolve around the everyday stresses of living in an era of newly understood freedoms all the while dealing with the still prominent discriminations of the 20th century. Along with outside forces, Jadine and Son must face their own personal demons before they are able to truly understand who the other is. Jadine and Son must learn to adjust to the importance and impact of nature and civilization in a society connected to both the past and the future.Jadine and Son are two sides of the same coin. Their personalities differ from one another greatly yet, at the same time, they have one of the most genuine connections of the characters of Tar Baby.

Their relationship is one the makes sense and does not at the same time and the greatest reason for this is their individual connections to nature and civil society. Morrison explores this differentiation throughout the novel but it is best seen in chapter Nine with her analysis of their thoughts on one another. “Each knew the world as it was meant or...

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