Tar Baby

by

Toni Morrison

Alma Estée Character Analysis

Alma Estée is one of Thérèse’s friends who sometimes works at L’Arbe de la Croix. As with Thérèse, the Streets and the Childses call Alma “Mary” because they cannot be bothered to distinguish between the women who work at the house, signaling their dehumanization of and perceived sense of superiority to the island’s Black population. At the end of the novel, Alma Estée sees Jadine in the airport as Jadine leaves for Paris. When Alma Estée later relays that sighting to Son, she seemingly invents a paramour whom Jadine was with, seemingly to get under Son’s skin after he has treated her as inferior to people like Jadine.

Alma Estée Quotes in Tar Baby

The Tar Baby quotes below are all either spoken by Alma Estée or refer to Alma Estée. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Systemic Racism and Power Theme Icon
).
Chapter 5 Quotes

Jadine looked at him trying to figure out whether he was the man who understood potted plants or the man who drove through houses.

Related Characters: Jadine, Son/The Man, Valerian, Margaret, Michael, Thérèse, Alma Estée, Cheyenne
Page Number: 178
Explanation and Analysis:
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Tar Baby PDF

Alma Estée Quotes in Tar Baby

The Tar Baby quotes below are all either spoken by Alma Estée or refer to Alma Estée. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Systemic Racism and Power Theme Icon
).
Chapter 5 Quotes

Jadine looked at him trying to figure out whether he was the man who understood potted plants or the man who drove through houses.

Related Characters: Jadine, Son/The Man, Valerian, Margaret, Michael, Thérèse, Alma Estée, Cheyenne
Page Number: 178
Explanation and Analysis: