Where It All Goes Down
Tropical Getaway
Most of this book takes place on Isle des Chevaliers, and island off the coast of Dominica in the Caribbean. Valerian bought Isle des Chevaliers as private property—lucky dog!—which goes to show you that Valerian likes to own things (islands) and likes his privacy (remote islands).
But Morrison makes an even larger thematic point in her setting, as we find in a passage like this: "When laborers imported from Haiti came to clear the land, clouds and fish were convinced that the world was over, that the sea-green of the sea and the sky-blue sky of the sky were no longer permanent" (1.1).
All of the building that Valerian does on Isle des Chevaliers is described as one giant act of violence. Morrison seems to have a pretty big problem with people who want to tear up the earth and rebuild it in whatever way suits their whims. The rest of Tar Baby is littered with passages like the one above, suggesting the eco-friendly idea that human beings should try to live in harmony with nature instead of always trying to control and exploit it.
It's this need for control and exploitation, in fact, that leaves Valerian open to disappointment when things don't go his way. By the end of the novel, his spirit breaks and he lets his house become rundown. Morrison symbolizes his surrender by having the surrounding nature start to grow over his house and take control of it. To this we say: Get it, nature!