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Anthropomorphism
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Son's Arrival:
In Chapter 5 of Tar Baby, Morrison's narrator seamlessly slips into Son's memory of his arrival at the Streets’ house. Morrison does not use a chapter or paragraph break to directly indicate that she will employ a flashback. Rather, she subtly transitions to a flashback mid-passage:
Women were not on his mind and however strange it looked, he had not followed the women. He didn’t even see them properly. When the boat docked, he stayed in the closet. Their voices were as light as their feet pattering on the dock and when he went, at last, to look, all he saw were two flat-blacked women floating behind the beam of a flashlight [...]
The flashback, beginning at the line "he had not followed the women," provides important context for Son’s character arc in Tar Baby. Son enters the novel as an anonymous figure without an established identity or story. However, these flashbacks to Son's earlier days help readers understand more about his motivations and desires. The flashback above speaks directly to Son's complex relationship with women and with being perceived as a dangerous and abusive man.
By choosing to employ a fluid, blink-and-you'll-miss-it transition between past and present, Morrison further characterizes Son as a mysterious, stealthy, and intelligent figure. His entrance into the novel's primary narrative—hidden in Margaret's bedroom closet—parallels the way Morrison crafts his flashbacks: by couching them within larger passages of text.
Related Themes:
