Tar Baby Identity Quotes

When Jade remembers seeing a tall African woman in a French grocery store, she remembers how deeply this woman shook her sense of identity. Jade is basically happy, but this African woman makes her feel self-conscious about how much she has neglected her black roots in order to succeed in a white person's world.

Jade wishes that she could have an identity that didn't include her race. She just wishes she could be racially neutral. This is an interesting wish, since 'neutral' is often how white people tend to think of themselves. The desire to not have a race might actually reflect Jade's desire to be white.

Like her white patrons Valerian and Margaret, Jade neglects to learn the real names of the local black Dominicans who work around Valerian's vacation home. She feels confident that she knows a certain woman as Mary, but Son informs her that the woman's name is actually Thérèse. Son has only been on Isle des Chevaliers for a week, and he already learned more about the local people than Jade has.

When Son returns to America for the first time in years, he realizes how estranged he feels from other black Americans. The feeling only gets worse when he tries to check into a fancy Hilton hotel and the young black man at the desk assumes he's in the wrong place.

Son knows where he comes from, both literally and figuratively. Jade, on the other hand, has been moving around her whole life, and this is also reflected in her fragile sense of identity. Jade is a lot less sure of who she is than Son is.

Son is very confident in his sense of identity as a black man. More specifically, he is confident in the belief that white people have destroyed the earth with all of their selfish imperial ambitions. He, on the other hand, just wants to live off the land in Eloe and not bother anyone.

Son and Jade are total opposites in terms of how they define themselves as black. Son thinks that black people should form their own communities, while Jade thinks that the only way forward is basically to accept the way things are and succeed according to the rules laid out by white people. This quote shows that Jade thinks of Son's outlook as inherently juvenile, and Son thinks of Jade's outlook as inherently assimilating.

When Son has had enough of Jade's criticism, he decides to hit her where it hurts—her sense of identity. He tells her that she has basically betrayed her entire race by assimilating into white culture and adopting white values. This doesn't go over so well, because Jade is extremely self-conscious about acting "white," but is also dedicated to not giving in to Son's insults.

Jade often struggles with her sense of identity. She is proud of the fact that she has gotten a good education and made money as a model. But on the other hand, she knows that there are many black women in her life who consider her a sell-out to white values and white culture.

When Son tries to track down Jade and rekindle his relationship with her, Thérèse warns him that he should stay away from the woman because she has "forgotten her ancient properties." What Thérèse means here is that there is a deep history that unites all black people. Jade has chosen to forget about this history and to separate her identity from those of the other black people in her life.