Tar-Baby (nonfiction)

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Brer Rabbit gets stuck in the Tar-Baby. This illustration comes from the 1895 version of Joel Chandler Harris' Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings, illustrated by A.B. Frost.

The Tar-Baby is a fictional character in the second of the Uncle Remus stories published in 1881.

Description

The Tar-Baby is a doll made of tar and turpentine used to entrap Br'er Rabbit.

The more that Br'er Rabbit fights the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he becomes.

In modern usage, "tar baby" refers to any "sticky situation" that is only aggravated by additional involvement in it.

Nonfiction cross-reference

Fiction cross-reference

External links