Teaching Tar Baby

Instructions for You

Objective: Time to start looking at things from the intruder, Son's perspective. We prefer that you begin this assignment right after completing Chapter 4 because this strange man who sniffs people's hair has now been revealed. He has some peculiarities that we want our students to explore before learning too much more about him.

How will we do this? Students will choose one short scene in which they peel back the layers of Son's mind and peek in. That means they'll redraft a scene from his perspective.

We're thinking this should be done mostly at home (writing is pretty solitary sometimes), but if you want to have students work in your class, give them about two hours. Break it up and give 'em a break periodically and you'll get great writing out of these kiddos.

Materials Needed: Copy of the text

Step 1: Since Son is a complex person, begin with some character analysis. This could be either a whole group discussion or if you like, you can break your students into groups of four or five and have them answer the following question and then come together as a whole group. You know what's best. Here are the questions:

• What's Son running from as far as we can tell?
• Where did he come from?
• What all has he done in Valerian and Margaret's house?
• What sort of man is he?
• Would you want to be around him? Why/why not?
• What are his biggest fears?
• What does he hope to accomplish?
• How does he think everything will turn out?
• What are his goals?

Step 2: After you've have a good talk about this guy, let students know that they'll tell a part of the story from his point of view. Maybe it'll be the time he jumped off the boat, perhaps the moment he was found, or a time he was snooping around Jade's bed sniffing her. Whichever scene speaks most to them, they should choose now.

Step 3: Once they've picked their scene, have them find and write down the page number for the scene and thoroughly reread it.

Step 4: Before they jump into re-writing their chosen scene, remind students that they need to keep in mind what sort of fellow Son is. How would the scene change because his point of view is different from that of our narrator? Point out these crucial facts: He's a black man. He's in a white man's house. There are some racial and class tensions and those have to be going through Son's filter.

Project these questions for students to think about these questions as they write:

• How's Son's viewpoint different from the way the story is being told?
• Where's Son physically located during the scene?
• What can Son hear and see?

Let's keep their writing to about one page in length.

Step 5: Once they've hammered out their retellings, students should do a thorough edit. They should revise their stories like Margaret tried revising her history.

Instructions for Your Students

Time to start looking at things from the intruder's perspective. If you've gotten far enough in the book, you know that his name is Son (or Willie Green, 'cause he lies about his identity). As you've learned by reading through Chapter 4, the intruder's a strange dude, who sniffs people's hair, has been discovered, and has some other peculiarities that we want you to explore before learning too much more about him.

After focusing on some key questions about the intruder, you're going to choose one scene he's involved in, peel back the layers of his mind and peek in. That will lead you to your big job—redrafting the scene from his perspective.

Step 1: First, we need to talk about this intruder. Son is a complex person, worthy of your class' collective brain power to figure out. Your teacher will organize a discussion around these questions:

• What's Son running from as far as we can tell?
• Where did he come from?
• What all has he done in Valerian and Margaret's house?
• What sort of man is he?
• Would you want to be around him? Why/why not?
• What are his biggest fears?
• What does he hope to accomplish?
• How does he think everything will turn out?
• What are his goals?

Step 2: After you've had a good talk about this guy, you'll be prepared to tell a part of this story from Son's point of view. Maybe it will be the time he jumped off the boat, perhaps the moment he was found in Margaret's closet, or a time he was snooping around Jade's bed sniffing her hair while she sleeps. 

Whichever scene speaks most to you, that's the one you should write about. Find your scene in the text, write down the page number for the scene, and reread it.

Step 3: Finally, we can start writing. You shouldn't be writing everything word for word, but rather think about what sort of fellow Son is. How would the scene change because his point of view is different from the narrators? He's a black man. He's in a white man's house. There's some racial and class tensions, and those issues have to be going through Son's head.

Keep these questions in mind as you write:

• How's Son's viewpoint different from the way the story is being told?
• Where's Son physically located during the scene?
• What can Son hear and see?

Step 4: Keep your writing to about one page in length. Once you've hammered out your retelling, go through and do some edits. You should revise your story like Margaret tried revising her history.