Tar Baby is the fourth novel by Toni Morrison. Born Chloe Ardelia Wofford, Morrison won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 and is best known for her novels The Bluest Eye (1970) and Beloved (1987), for which she won the Pulitzer Prize. Morrison’s work is known for its exploration of the Black American experience, with the frequent use of dialect, exploration of the legacy of American enslavement of Black people, and influence of folktales and storytelling. Tar Baby was originally published on March 12, 1981, by Alfred A. Knopf Inc. The novel is about the romance between Jadine Childs, a model, and Son, a fugitive, and follows their swift and passionate rise and fall as they struggle to contend with each other’s identities and failures to change the other. Themes of Obligation and Betrayal in Romantic Relationships as well as The Intersection of Social Class and Race help develop the characters across different settings in the Caribbean, the American South, and New York City.

This guide references the paperback First Vintage International Edition, published in June 2004.

Content Warning: The book contains scenes of domestic violence and assault, child abuse, and instances of racism and the use of slurs.

Plot Summary

A man jumps ship off the coast of Queen of France, a town in the Caribbean, and secretly boards a smaller vessel. Despite his hopes that the smaller boat will go to shore, it takes him to Isle des Chevaliers.

On Isle des Chevaliers, Valerian Street and his wife, Margaret, live at L’Arbe de la Croix, the most beautiful house on the island, with their butler and cook, the husband and wife duo of Sydney and Ondine. It is the week before Christmas, and Sydney and Ondine’s niece, Jadine, is visiting. The Streets are Jadine’s patrons and pay for her schooling in Paris and support her modeling career there. Valerian is growing older and complains of the pains of age, while Margaret, younger and dissatisfied with life on the island, hopes to return to the US with their son, Michael, who is supposedly coming for Christmas. Valerian is not convinced, knowing that Michael has failed to appear in years prior. Ondine, while speaking with Sydney and Jadine in the kitchen, notices that some of the house’s chocolate and bottled water is missing.

That night, sleep escapes many of the residents of the house. Jadine thinks of the events that brought her to the house. After graduating from college and earning a place on the cover of Elle, she was unsure of her next steps, so she came to the island to take refuge and regroup. Valerian thinks of his time running the candy factory that made his family’s fortune. He committed to retiring at 65, sold the company, and moved to Isle des Chevaliers. Margaret is only half asleep, wracked with anxiety over whether Michael will come for Christmas. She remembers how she struggled to adjust to life with Valerian and the pressures of raising a child.

The next day, Valerian antagonizes Margaret about Michael’s visit, and when their fight becomes too much for her, Margaret storms out of the room. Jadine and Valerian discuss Michael, with Valerian critical of his son’s life and values. Margaret rushes back into the room, screaming that someone is in her room. Sydney goes to check and comes back escorting the man from the boat at gunpoint. Valerian offers the stranger a drink.

The next day, everyone is anxious and unsure if Valerian will allow the man to stay or evict him. Jadine tries to calm Ondine about the stranger. Ondine then calms Sydney down, who is annoyed that he must serve the trespasser. Jadine takes a shower and notices the man in her mirror. The man, who refuses to reveal his name, antagonizes her, trying to define her racial identity, and when she confronts him, he grabs her and smells her. She leaves to tell Valerian, but when she finds him in the greenhouse, the man is already there, laughing with Valerian.

The man takes a shower in Jadine’s room while she is away for the first time since he jumped ship. The man calls himself Son and believes that to be his true identity. Valerian allows Son to stay because he did not believe Margaret and does not want to look as though he were wrong by overreacting. Valerian sends Son to Queen of France to get a haircut. On the journey, local workers Gideon and Thérèse explain how Isle des Chevaliers earned its name. It is said that a ship once carrying enslaved people sank off the shore of the island, and that the enslaved people, blinded by the sight of the island Dominique, washed up with the horses from the ship and made their own community. It is said that they still ride across the island, hundreds of years later. When Son returns, he looks fresh and new, and Jadine cannot help but feel attracted to him.

Jadine makes Son apologize to Sydney and Ondine, and the next day, Son and Jadine picnic on the beach. He tells her that he is from Eloe, Florida, but has been gone for eight years because he killed someone. His wife was sleeping with a 13-year-old boy, and in anger, he drove his car into the house. The car exploded and badly burned Son’s wife, who died from her injuries. On their way back to the house, the car runs out of gas. While Son treks to get more gas, Jadine goes into the forest and gets trapped when she sinks into a swamp. She extricates herself by climbing a tree trunk just as Son returns.

Margaret takes over the cooking for Christmas in anticipation of Michael’s arrival, but when he does not show, she gives up, and Ondine must finish the meal. Valerian invites everyone at the house to eat at the table, but chaos ensues when he reveals that he fired Gideon and Thérèse for stealing apples. Sydney and Ondine are hurt that they were not told sooner, and Son is angered by Valerian’s hypocrisy. Jadine takes Valerian’s side, arguing against her family and bewildering Son. Valerian tells both Son and Ondine to leave, and both refuse. Ondine turns her attention to Margaret and her cooking, and Margaret throws a glass at her. They fight, and Ondine reveals that Margaret abused Michael when he was a child. In the shock of this revelation, everyone but Valerian leaves the room. Jadine asks Son to sleep with her in her room, although she assures him there will be no sex.

Son arrives in New York City, leaving L’Arbe de la Croix after the Christmas debacle. Jadine arrives two days later. They begin a romantic relationship and fall increasingly in love. Jadine loves New York, but Son misses his home and convinces her to come with him on a visit to Eloe.

Back on the island, Margaret tells Valerian about her abuse of Michael and her dependence on it. She felt trapped and as though she couldn’t stop herself, even though she did stop once Michael was old enough to struggle. Valerian decides not to fire Sydney and Ondine, and Margaret even approaches Ondine for forgiveness, although she tries to hold Ondine accountable for never stopping her abuse of Michael. Valerian retreats to his greenhouse, where he judges himself guilty of willful ignorance and wonders how to move forward knowing that he could have stopped the abuse if he paid enough attention to his family.

Jadine feels out of place in Eloe, though Son revels in the joy of returning home. She struggles to interact and is forced to stay alone at Son’s aunt Rosa’s house. That night, Jadine is haunted by the images of the women in both her and Son’s lives and feels as though they are judging her lifestyle. She returns to New York the next day, with Son promising he will return only a day after her. Son does not return to New York for a long while, and when he does, the two begin to fight because each wants to change the other. Their fights turn violent, and one night, when Son again tries to define Jadine’s racial identity, she calls off the relationship and leaves.

Jadine returns to Isle des Chevaliers, although she only plans to stay for a day before returning to France. Ondine explains that Valerian is ill and Margaret is in charge. Jadine and Ondine argue, as Jadine does not want to have to care for Ondine and Sydney and believes that they expect her to. Jadine insists that she does not want a life like Ondine’s and leaves the island.

Son soon follows Jadine to the islands. He cannot give Jadine up and decides to be who she wants him to be. Gideon and Thérèse tell Son that Jadine already left, and he decides to go to L’Arbe de la Croix to get her address in Paris. Thérèse brings Son to Isle des Chevaliers in her boat. She brings him to the back of the island and tells him he can either pursue Jadine or join les chevaliers to run around the island. Son makes his way to shore, and once he finds his footing, he runs as fast as he can.