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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 6 page research paper that analyzes Toni Morrison's novel Tar Baby, and proposes that the characters in this work mirror those of Shakespeare in The Tempest. The writer argues that Morrison appropriates these characters, transforming Shakespeare's tale into an allegorical tale that illuminates the foibles of the white art aesthetic, as well as demonstrating certain truths about black existence. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
6 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khtartem.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
symbolism has to do with the African American folk tales of Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear, from which Morrison draws the name for this work. These tales were
appropriated by a white author, Joel Chandler Harris, and transformed into a product suitable to a white readership. Therefore, it is rather ironic that on another level, Morrison appropriates
the work of a white author, William Shakespeares The Tempest, and transforms it into an allegorical tale that illuminates the foibles of the white art aesthetic, as well
as demonstrating certain truths about black existence. Morrison accomplishes this by structuring her characters so that they are somewhat analogous to the characters in The Tempest. Peter Hulme
has noted that The Tempest can be viewed as "a pastoral tragi-comedy with the themes of nature and art at its center" (105). The characters in the play are
constituted in such a manner that they form a vertical hierarchy. Those associated with "spirit, intellect, and art" are at the top, while those at the bottom reflect, "nature,
earthly passions and life" (Walther 138). The same can be said of Tar Baby, as Morrison mirrors Shakespeares characters. Valerian Street, the head of Morrisons island household, mirrors Prospero,
as he, also, is an exile from civilization (12). Also like Prospero, Valerian exerts control over the rest of the characters (Walther 138). Morrison particularly invokes Prospero when she associates
Valerians greenhouse with his desire for control, describing the greenhouse as "a place of controlled ever-flowing life" (Walther 140). Therefore, Valerian, like Prospero, has the power to control nature and
also dominate the other characters. In this role as the civilizing "emperor" of his household, Valerian becomes the "locus for Eurocentrism" and its aesthetic standards" (Walther 140). Jadine,
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