STUDY GUIDE: Below is important background information and the discussion prompts to guide your reading. 

Joel Chandler Harris, 1848-1908

The  story of the Tar-Baby is perhaps the best-known of the Uncle Remus tales.

In modern usage "tar baby" is a racial slur and is a unacceptable term.
At the time the story was written "tar baby" was a metaphor for a sticky situation; a sticky situation that only gets worse when the person involved tries to get out of the situation. All cultures have folk tales that reflect their cultural values. Enslaved people in America brought their culture with them, and the "Tar Baby" story shows how the African Americans were not without culture nor were they submissive in all circumstances. Harris provided humor in his works and depicted the racism presents in America. Harris’ stories focus on the issues of slavery and irrational beliefs in white supremacy. The folk tales feature characters that learned survival strategies that enabled the characters to be fully realized human beings in the face of enslavement and later freedom in an America that did not acknowledge that all races are inherently equal.

 

Uncle Remus is the narrator and the animals represent the white and black populations. Some critics suggest  that tensions between the races is represented by one animal being the stronger creature and one the weaker in nature. The weaker creature obtains triumph not by his physical strength but by his ability to outsmart the other.

Through his humor and his creativeness, Harris  provided insight into how individuals of different social standings interacted with each other.

 

Discussion Prompts for Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings, "The Wonderful Tar- Baby Story"

 Pick 1 - 2  questions from the list below to answer in the Original Post you will make to the discussion forum for these readings.

1. Contemporary literary critics, have suggested that the trickster figure--Brer Rabbit--frequently represents the way slaves saw themselves--getting along in a white plantation culture through subversion and cleverness. If this is the case, then why does Brer rabbit assume a superior attitude when dealing with the unresponsive Tar-Baby. Certainly his reaction may be attributed to pride, but Harris may also be documenting the subtleties of race relations. Is Brer Rabbit asserting his own superiority over one who is lower than he is on the social order? Does the silent Tar-Baby represent the lowest tier of plantation culture--the slave who has neither the education or the desire to assert himself in a white dominated world?
    
2. Harris used the language and dialect of the "old south" negro slave in his writings of Uncle Remus. How did this make his stories believable and yet entertaining? In many ways, the racial characterization is as blurred as the moral characterization. If the tale is to be read as the depiction of one race triumphing over another, who is the victor in Tar-Baby? Knowing Harris wrote (and owned) a newspaper, were the stories written for entertainment alone, or were lessons in humanity an underlying agenda?
    
3. When Brer Rabbit is caught in the sticky substance of the Tar-Baby, the social implications of the tale shift. Instead of lording his "respectubbleness" over the Tar-Baby, Brer Rabbit is at the mercy of the Tar-Baby and its creator--Brer Fox. Is this a subtle reminder from the slave tradition of the dangers of assuming a position of superiority in a culture that hinges on the relationship between the dominant and the subordinate? Was the tale intended to function as a commentary of the plantation culture? Or, were they as Harris suggested--pithy anecdotes passed down for entertainment value?
    
4. After his depiction in "The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story", Brer Rabbit assumes a complex characterization--a characterization that makes it more difficult for the reader to render a judgment about him. This story is perhaps the first one in the series where the reader sees a dual side of Brer Rabbit. Instead of the victimized underdog, readers learn of the many "affronts" that Brer Rabbit has committed within the animal community. Readers also learn of his prideful nature when he insists that the Tar-Baby is remiss in ignoring "respectubble folks" like himself.  Do readers applaud Brer Rabbit for being the underdog or do they condemn the fact that he does not triumph because of his good nature, but rather through his trickery? In the introduction to the tales, Harris identified this dilemma by commenting on his own mixed feelings in rooting for Brer Rabbit, while having misgivings about his manner of escape. How do the animal characters of Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit relate to the racial issues in Harris' time?