Toni Morrison’s novel Tar Baby takes its name from a popular African American folktale. The context of the story holds significant meaning to the novel and helps situate the characters in the events of the plot. Popularized in 1879 by Joel Chandler Harris, the “Tar-Baby” folktale follows a strong tradition of African folktales about using figures to trap tricksters. “Tar-Baby” hinges on the use of a tar figure:

[T]he doll is made by Brer Fox and placed in the roadside to even a score with his archenemy Brer Rabbit. Brer Rabbit speaks to the Tar-Baby, gets angry when it does not answer him, strikes it, and gets stuck. The more he strikes and kicks the figure, the more hopelessly he becomes attached (“Tar-Baby.” Encyclopaedia Britannica).

In the context of Morrison’s novel, the tar figure is love, and the more the characters engage with it, struggle with it, or even strike out against it, the more entrenched in the romance they become. This comparison is especially relevant in the context of Son and Jadine’s relationship. The violence that enters their relationship also connects to the context of the folktale, because the violence arises at the peak of their intensity.