Tar Baby
It is often said that it is better to follow your heart instead of your mind because it will never lie to you. However, when you follow your heart you are not always
prepared for what the outcome may be. This is proven in Toni Morisson's novel Tar Baby . Tar Baby is Morrison's fourth novel and it took three and a half years to write . The story was based on an old African American folk tale about Brer Rabbit and Tar Baby. This book is said by some to be an excess of what made Morrison's other books good but despite the criticism the book still made it to the best seller's list.
The story takes place on an isolated island of L'Arbe de la Croix. this was
purposely done by Morrison so that the characters would have no way to escape. There were no immediate policemen to call and no neighbors to interfere in the story . The characters were placed in a cage and left to see what would happen. L' Arbe de la Croix is the vacation home of Valerian Street a retired candy maker and his wife Margaret Street. The house is also occupied by a black couple, Sydney and Odine, who have been the long time servants of the Street's.
During the time of the story the house is also occupied by Jadine, who is
Sydney's and Odine's niece. Jadine was took in by the Streets and they paid for
her to go to school and become a model. Jadine came down from Paris to contemplate a marriage proposal from a Frenchman and to spend Christmas with her aunt and uncle. Jadine can be considered the tar baby in this story. She was taken in by the Street's and opened up to the world that they lived in. She got a wonderful education and traveled all over. She had a sense of security and knew that anything she needed would be given to her by the streets.
The streets get another unexpected guest during Christmas. One night when Margaret is up in her room she opens her closet and sees a strange black man sitting there. She becomes hysterical and runs down the stairs in a panic. Sydney goes upstairs and brings down the intruder everyone in the house is startled by his appearance and ready to call the police. Everyone except Valerian. He invites the intruder to sit down for a drink and this makes Margaret crazy. She runs up to her room and locks herself in her bedroom. We later find out that the intruder is the same man that we encounter in the beginning of the novel on ...
... middle of paper ...
...sland but Gideon says that it is to late. Gideon's wife on the other hand offers to take Son. Gideon's wife is partly blind but she claims to know the sea well and Son takes her up on the offer. Gideon's wife takes Son to a part of the island that Son never ventured to. It is dark and Son does not know where to go. Gideon's wife says to trust her and just get out the boat and follow the path. The story ends there and we do not find out what becomes of Jadine or Son.
Jadine and Son are a prime example of listening to your heart and not your mind. They rushed into their relationship and did not know enough about each other to make a reasonable decision. Jadine was trying to run from something and Son was not in love he was in lust. If they had taken the time to know each other better they might have realized that they were two different people. Just as in the folk tail of Brer Rabbit and Tar Baby, Son (the rabbit ) was attracted to Jadine (Tar Baby ) and got caught in a trap. Jadine and Son were from two different worlds that could not come together. In the end Jadine realized that she made a mistake but Son still held on to the past and ended up right where he started. Lost.
he is caught as a stow-away on a raft and his original story is not believed by
The more you think about things the better decision you will be able to make. When you
Janie was raised by her grandmother whom she called Nanny; she never meets her mother or father. Janie and Nanny lived in the back of the Washburn’s house, which was a white...
In the short story, “Landlady,” Roald Dahl creates a story filled with suspense and foreshadowing throughout the story. When Billy gets to Bath, and is looking for a bed and breakfast and he rings the doorbell, the narrator says, “ Right after he took his finger off of the bell-button the door swung open and a woman was standing there.” This means that the lady was waiting and watching him because how else would she know when to open the door. An example of suspense is when Billy opens the guest book and sees that the last time someone signed in was 2 years ago. And, the narrator says, “ Look here the last entry is over 2 years ago and Christopher Mulholland’s is a year before that.” Which means that for some reason no one else has stayed here
Jalil is a wealthy movie theater owner in the small town of Kabul who is a well known figure of the village and lives in a large house with his three wives who have given him many children. Mariam is one of his children however she was born into the world as a harami, a bastard child, so she lives with her outcasted mother at the edge of the village in a Kolba. Jalil visits Mariam every week, when he visits he pretends to care deeply for her due to his own pity and guilt
Lastly, if you are stuck in a decision, create some rules in your life - or in that specific area of life - that will help you make decisions much easier. When you have rules in place, indecisiveness will be much less
Finally, at the end of the story, Holograve finally tells Phoebe that he is a Maule. He also tells her the house is made of wood instead of stone. Holograve finds a spring that Clifford vaguely remembered. He remembered that it was behind the old portrait, there they found the deed to the vast lands near Maine. They then move into the county to leave the house behind and their memories behind.
There are things you will encounter in your life that will require you to make the right decision. “ You are not sure if you are making the right decision- about anything, ever”(Didion). Whenever you make a decision, you are not sure if it is the right one. As we get older, we use what we know in order to make the right choice. Throughout your life, the decision you make can affect you personally in the future.
Tears fell silently onto Jada Clark’s satin pillow case as the lark continued to sing. Just a couple minutes before her boyfriend, Rhys, had leapt over the small balcony to avoid an unwanted encounter with her unsuspecting mother. Jada sensed something was off about their passionate goodbye. His once rosy face was as pale as death’s kiss. Fate wasn’t fair. Rhys’ father was head of the Miller political party and her father was president of Clark. With the election fast approaching Jada had to be on her best behaviour in fear of endangering her father’s campaign. She couldn’t possibly ruin her father’s achievements for her own selfish needs; could she? Someone like Parker, a local school boy, would fit Jada’s “Perfect daughter” image far better. He was a gentleman, duxing the school and not to mention would look great for the campaign. But she didn’t love him.
Along with suspense and elements of the supernatural “The Landlady” also contains an eerie setting. At the beginning of the tale it says how run down the neighborhood,it says how the pillars are cracked, and how the paint is peeling off the wall as well. While the inside is cheerful, and comfy it was just a lure to get Billy to come into the house, similarly to the story of Hantz Gretel, where the witch used the gingerbread house to bring the kids into the house to eat them.
To conclude, in both pieces their displays to different ways a child could love their father. It necessarily doesn’t mean it right. But regardless of how the children feel about their fathers, the father love for his child is pure and unconditional. There is nothing that can get in the way of that, not even the mother of the child.
know yourself, believe in yourself, and follow your heart. Do what you want to do follow your heart because if you don’t you may not have the future you want.
You define your outcome, The words of others cannot affect you unless you allow it to. What others say don't matter, but what you think is what really matters.
The slums of the city are nothing like the shining red and golden buildings of the marketplace and the ports. There were toppled towers and caved in houses all around the place. Shadows lurked everywhere. I kept my gun in my hand at all times, and did not dare to take the horse into that wretched place. Instead, she waited for me at the hotel. The home of the thief was nothing but a tent being held up by several wooden poles, situated by a dirty sewer stream.
Granted, not every decision you make will produce a great result. Not every choice will be easy to make. But that comes with being an adult. Poor choices will be made that you may regret, but as long as you learn from them that are all that matters. The best way, as I have learned, to make sure you make the right choice is to have those constant reminders in your head; somethings to keep in mind