Previous
Margaret
Sydney is Ondine’s husband and Jadine’s uncle and adoptive father. He is also Valerian’s butler and has worked for him for over 30 years. While Sydney appears friendly to Valerian’s face, he candidly criticizes his employer behind his back. In Valerian’s interactions with Sydney, Valerian acts familiarly and conspiratorially one moment before becoming domineering and controlling the next. Although Sydney resents Valerian’s racism and his manipulative behavior, he continues to work for him because he has virtually no other option—he is too old to find better work elsewhere. Notably, Sydney displays internalized racism—he considers himself to be a dignified Black man and has no compassion for Black men like Son, whom he refers to using a racist slur. And Sidney, like the Streets, also refuses to learn Gideon’s and Thérèse’s names because he considers himself—as a Black American—to be superior to them. This points to how Sydney becomes complicit in upholding the systemically unjust power structures, even as they negatively impact him.
Sydney Quotes in Tar Baby
The Tar Baby quotes below are all either spoken by Sydney or refer to Sydney. 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:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
“[Valerian will] be here till he dies,” Sydney told [Ondine]. “Less that greenhouse burns up.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4
Quotes
Sydney held the bowl of salad toward him, the man looked up and said, “Hi.” For the first time in his life, Sydney had dropped something. He collected the salad greens and righted the bowl expertly, but his anger and frustration were too strong to hide. He tried his best to be no less dignified than his employer, but he barely made it to civility.
Chapter 5
Quotes
“You the kind of man that does worry me. You had a job, you chucked it. You got in some trouble, you say, so you just ran off. You hide, you live in secret, underground, surface when you caught. I know you, but you don’t know me. I am a Phil-a-delphia Negro mentioned in the book of the very same name. My people owned drugstores and taught school while yours were still cutting their faces open so as to be able to tell one of you from the other. And if you looking to lounge here and live off the fat of the land, and if you think I’m going to wait on you, think twice!”
Chapter 7
Quotes
He saw it all as a rescue: first tearing her mind away from that blinding awe. Then the physical escape from the plantation. His first, hers to follow two days later. Unless…he remembered sitting at the foot of the table, gobbling the food, watching her pour his wine, listening to her take his part, trying to calm Ondine and Sydney to his satisfaction.
Get the entire Tar Baby LitChart as a printable PDF.
Sydney Quotes in Tar Baby
The Tar Baby quotes below are all either spoken by Sydney or refer to Sydney. 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:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
“[Valerian will] be here till he dies,” Sydney told [Ondine]. “Less that greenhouse burns up.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4
Quotes
Sydney held the bowl of salad toward him, the man looked up and said, “Hi.” For the first time in his life, Sydney had dropped something. He collected the salad greens and righted the bowl expertly, but his anger and frustration were too strong to hide. He tried his best to be no less dignified than his employer, but he barely made it to civility.
Chapter 5
Quotes
“You the kind of man that does worry me. You had a job, you chucked it. You got in some trouble, you say, so you just ran off. You hide, you live in secret, underground, surface when you caught. I know you, but you don’t know me. I am a Phil-a-delphia Negro mentioned in the book of the very same name. My people owned drugstores and taught school while yours were still cutting their faces open so as to be able to tell one of you from the other. And if you looking to lounge here and live off the fat of the land, and if you think I’m going to wait on you, think twice!”
Chapter 7
Quotes
He saw it all as a rescue: first tearing her mind away from that blinding awe. Then the physical escape from the plantation. His first, hers to follow two days later. Unless…he remembered sitting at the foot of the table, gobbling the food, watching her pour his wine, listening to her take his part, trying to calm Ondine and Sydney to his satisfaction.
