A Transnational Reading of Toni Morrison’s Tar Baby

The transnational reading of Tar Baby and the identification of certain aspects of this theoretical framework will be the focus of this paper.  Even though, as a whole, transnationalism seems to be a rather negative option given the fact that the novel’s ending is a perfect cul-de-sac, Morrison’s approach to solving this crux is by deconstructing the ever-present binary of myth vs. reality. The opposition between colonization and the black cultural mythos as represented in the novel by the “love-me-hate-me” relationship between Jadine and Son seems to be the most compelling rendering of the transnationalism from above / transnationalism from below binary.  When Jadine manages to escape this binary, by acquiring a new identity through what Lionnet and Shih call a minoritized culture, the transnationalism from above / transnationalism from below paradigm is reinstated by the irreconcilable antagonism between Valerian and Son.  In the end, by reinterpreting the myth of Eden through the lenses of the tar baby parable, Morrison literally creates, both out of clay and tar, a transnational identity for Jadine who leaves behind a traditional and dual world, proving that her reality is more compelling than Son’s or Valerian’s myths.

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