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Tar Baby Toni Morrison

This dissertation analyzes Toni Morrison's novel Tar Baby through the lens of African American identity and memory. The novel outlines a family narrative and community past that influenced the characters' lives. It also examines the implications of the relationship between African Americans and their identity. Specifically, it explores how the ghosts of history and memory dominate the characters' conversations, as the legacy of slavery continues to impact them. The dissertation also analyzes black womanhood and the "inbetweenness" of the character Jadine. It discusses how the novel reveals that ignoring past and present differences is not an effective way to overcome oppression. Overall, the dissertation uses Tar Baby to examine how African American history and memory shape identity.

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Consuela Bărbulescu
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1K views8 pages

Tar Baby Toni Morrison

This dissertation analyzes Toni Morrison's novel Tar Baby through the lens of African American identity and memory. The novel outlines a family narrative and community past that influenced the characters' lives. It also examines the implications of the relationship between African Americans and their identity. Specifically, it explores how the ghosts of history and memory dominate the characters' conversations, as the legacy of slavery continues to impact them. The dissertation also analyzes black womanhood and the "inbetweenness" of the character Jadine. It discusses how the novel reveals that ignoring past and present differences is not an effective way to overcome oppression. Overall, the dissertation uses Tar Baby to examine how African American history and memory shape identity.

Uploaded by

Consuela Bărbulescu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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UNIVERSITATEA DIN CRAIOVA

FACULTATEA DE LITERE

LIMBA ŞI LITERATURA ENGLEZĂ –

 LIMBA ȘI LITERATURA ITALIANĂ

LUCRARE DE ABSOLVIRE

PROFESOR COORDONATOR,

Lector universitar titular dr. Cazacu Ion Sorin

ABSOLVENT,

Bărbulescu Aisha Aristița

CRAIOVA

Iulie 2022

1
UNIVERSITATEA DIN CRAIOVA

FACULTATEA DE LITERE

LIMBA ŞI LITERATURA ENGLEZĂ –

 LIMBA ȘI LITERATURA ITALIANĂ

T. MORRISONʼS TAR BABY- A REINVENTION OF A


LOVE STORY IN THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN
CULTURE.

(REINVENȚIA UNEI POVESTI DE IUBIRE AFRO-


AMERICANĂ)

PROFESOR COORDONATOR,

Lector universitar titular dr. Cazacu Ion Sorin

ABSOLVENT,

Bărbulescu Aisha Aristița

CRAIOVA

Iulie 2022

2
ABSTRACT

Meanwhile, in my music, my plays, my films, I want


to carry always this central idea – to be African.
Multitudes of men have died for less worthy ideals;
it is even more eminently worth living for.
PAUL ROBESON, 1934

This dissertation aims at analysing the implications of the relationship between


African Americans and their identity and memory, in Toni Morrison’s Tar Baby. Morrison
thought to channel memory and history through the ghost of Tar Baby, the one dominating
conversations in the novel, just as (hi)storical legacy overshadows each of the character’s
lives. The novel outlines, on one hand, a family narrative, a community’s past experiences
that influenced characters’ lives; furthermore, it offers the solving key to the very issue: it
advises what to do to ease memory. Obviously, the novel reveals how ignoring the past and
present differences is never the best course in trying to get away from the oppressive burden
of it.

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................1

CHAPTER 1

AFRICAN-AMERICAN CONTEXTS IN TONI MORRISONʼS Tar Baby

1.1 Toni Morrison- beloved novelist.........................................................................................3

1.2 Why Tar Baby? ....................................................................................................................7

1.3 The painful Memory and restless Past...............................................................................10

CHAPTER 2

BLACK WOMANHOOD

3.1 On black womanhood during slavery.................................................................................28

3.2 An overview of Toni Morrison’s female-centred novels…………………………………31

3.3 Career centred woman.....................................................................................................32

3.4 The inbetweenness of Jadine...............................................................................................35

CHAPTER 3

BLACK LOVE

2.1 The journey of the black soul .....................................................................................14

2.2. The differences between the two lovers ………………................................................16

2.3 Slavery’s mark on Tar Baby characters..............................................................................22

CONCLUSIONS.....................................................................................................................38

BIBLIOGRAPHY...................................................................................................................40

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