Revision:Quotes from Tar Baby - Toni Morrison - The Student Room
The Student Room

Revision:Quotes from Tar Baby - Toni Morrison

TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > English > Quotes from Tar Baby - Toni Morrison


#

Page 6 "There he saw the stars and exchanged stares with the moon, but he could see very little of the land, which was just as well because he was gazing at the shore of an island that, three hundred years ago, had struck slaves blind the moment they saw it."

Page 7 "The men had already folded the earth where there had been no fold and hollowed her where there had been no hollow."

Page 11 "He [Valerian] hauls everybody down to the equator to grow Northern flowers?" (Margaret)

Page 12 "He [Valerian] read only mail these days, having given up books because the language in them had changed so much - stained with rivulets of disorder and meaninglessness."

Page 37 "She stirred milk into the chocolate paste and chuckled." (Ondine)

Page 43 "that mother/sister/she" (Jadine's dreams)

Page 57 "although the theme of her defense in the argument was that Ondine (if not all colored people) was just as good as they were, she didn't believe it." (about Margaret)

Page 76 "'Sunday,' he [Valerian] was saying with the bell-full voice of ownership"

Page 82 "literally a nigger in the woodpile" (Margaret on Son)

Page 85 "... not dreaming something she was supposed to be dreaming" (about Margaret)

Page 88 "Giving your son a whole human being for a Christmas present / ... / Now he'll [Michael] own him, I suspect. What money can't buy." (Ondine)

Page 113 "the small dark dogs galloping on silver feet." (metaphor for Jadine's sexual passion)

Page 121 "Rape? Why you little white girls always think somebody's trying to rape you?" "Then why don't you settle down and stop acting like it [acting white]" (Son to Jadine)

Page 126 "Doesn't he know the difference between one Black and another or does he think we're all... " (Jadine)

Page 129 "He looked like a gorilla" (Margaret)"Jadine's neck prickled at the description. She had volunteered nigger - but not gorilla."

Page 139 "He'd [Son] had seven documented identities and before that a few undocumented ones, so he barely remembered he real original name himself."

Page 147 "The candy was named after me. I was named after an emperor." (Valerian)

Page 184 "The women hanging from the trees were quiet now, but arrogant - mindful as they were of their value, their exceptional femaleness; knowing as they did that the first world of the world have been built with their sacred properties"

Page 203 "the people whose sugar and cocoa had allowed him [Valerian] to grow old in regal comfort;" (Son in a stream of consciousness)

Page 204-205 "That was the sole lesson of their world: how to make waste, how to make machines that made more waste. /... /it would drown them one day,"

Page 206 "The man who respected industry looked over a gulf at the man who prized fraternity."

Page 208 "I may be a cook, Mr. Street, but I'm a person too." (Ondine)

Page 222 "smiling to think of what the leaden waves of the Atlantic had become in the hands of civilization. The triumph of ingenuity that had transferred the bored treachery of the sea into a playful gush of water that did exactly what it was told." (Son in about the tub)

Page 245 "He [Valerian] had not known because he had not taken the trouble to know."

Page 265 "He's a person not a white man." (Jadine on Valerian)

Page 269 "She [Jadine]... demanded clarity, precision, very specific solutions to open-ended problems,"

Page 277 "she [Jadine] was grateful to be far away from his [Son] original-dime ways, his white-folks-flack-folks primitivism."

Page 285 "This place dislocates everything."

Page 308 "She has forgotten her ancient properties." (Therese about Jadine)

Comments

Discussions Toggle
Leeds 2012 Applicants Thread
started by: Dangermoose
forum: University of Leeds
replies: 1125
last post: 1 Minute Ago
Do you think that depression can be inherited and genetic?
started by: 331sam331
forum: Mental Health
replies: 10
last post: 1 Minute Ago
Depression Society MKVI
started by: Idle
forum: Mental Health
replies: 1824
last post: 1 Minute Ago
Access students - Pharmacy offers?
started by: TheSarahJayne
forum: Pharmacy
replies: 25
last post: 1 Minute Ago
Will Yoga Help Me Tone Up?
started by: LRodel
forum: Fitness
replies: 4
last post: 1 Minute Ago
Verbal abuse from strangers
started by: amy19
forum: Advice on Everyday Issues
replies: 5
last post: 1 Minute Ago
Southampton 2012 Applicant's Thread
started by: ppincus
forum: Southampton Unis
replies: 567
last post: 1 Minute Ago
UK Chemistry Olympiad
started by: Zhy
forum: Chemistry Exams
replies: 46
last post: 1 Minute Ago
Most annoying thing people do at University?
started by: The Phelps
forum: Student Life
replies: 229
last post: 1 Minute Ago
Southampton Medical School 2012 Applicants
started by: noneoftheabove
forum: Medical Schools
replies: 1717
last post: 1 Minute Ago
Apprenticeship
started by: choco_inspire
forum: National Apprenticeship Week Q&A
replies: 1
last post: 1 Minute Ago
The "waiting for news is driving me crazy" uberthread 2011-12
started by: Minerva
forum: Applications and UCAS
replies: 4007
last post: 1 Minute Ago
4 year old dog going grey?
started by: amy19
forum: Animals and Pets
replies: 1
last post: 1 Minute Ago
Guilty Pleasures!
started by: TheRandomer
forum: Music
replies: 13
last post: 1 Minute Ago
LSE Applicants for 2012 entry
started by: donzy
forum: London School of Economics
replies: 3085
last post: 1 Minute Ago
Conspiracy Among Us
started by: OxfordhereIcome
forum: General University Discussion
replies: 0
last post: 1 Minute Ago
What are you listening to now? V
started by: tehforum
forum: Music
replies: 682
last post: 1 Minute Ago
The Cambridge Chat Thread - it's over 90,000!
started by: Zoedotdot
forum: Cambridge Current Students and Alumni
replies: 6789
last post: 1 Minute Ago
2012 entry American applicants - Edinburgh
started by: mpc1
forum: University of Edinburgh
replies: 39
last post: 1 Minute Ago
pharmacy applicants 2012
started by: kingam
forum: Pharmacy
replies: 2282
last post: 1 Minute Ago
Article Updates Toggle
Headingley Halls/Hyde Park Plaza/Headingley Plaza
edited by: jennybozy, 11 Minutes Ago
Medicine Applicants Stalking Page 2012 Entry
edited by: Rocketeeer, 18 Minutes Ago
Computer Science/IT Offers 2012
edited by: derng, 20 Minutes Ago
KCL 2012 Applicants Stalking Page
edited by: sweet77, 31 Minutes Ago
Modern Language Offers 2012
edited by: Fosteeer, 36 Minutes Ago
Law Offers 2012
edited by: Natmay93, 55 Minutes Ago
Geography Offers 2012
edited by: bm127, 1 Hour Ago
Pharmacy Offers 2012
edited by: qasidb, 2 Hours Ago
LSE Applicants Stalking Page 2012 Entry
edited by: BigBlackDog, 3 Hours Ago
Neuroscience Offers 2012
edited by: Mattyphillips5320, 3 Hours Ago
Contact Us | Site Rules | Staying Safe on TSR | Advertising | Staff Blog | Essays & Coursework | Terms & Conditions | Top
Customise your TSR | Life Advice | Hobbies and Interests | Debate and Current Affairs | Study Help | University and University courses
Universities and HE Colleges | Careers, Employment and Gap Years | General Discussion

Customise your TSR