Abstract: Jadine, the female protagonist of Toni Morrison's work Tar Baby, has double ethical identities as both a black and an orphan. Her identity as an orphan severs her link with the Black and their culture, and brings her under the influence from the White and the Eurocentric aesthetics, value system and morality. The contradiction between her two identities results in Jadine's hesitation when confronted with the choice between Black and White cultures. She cannot fully identify with the Black culture and integrate with the Black people, neither can she totally efface her Black identity nor separate from the Black culture to fit in the White society, which makes her a “cultural orphan” between Black and White cultures. The novel reveals Morrison's contemplation over the cultural shock and the ethical dilemma the modern wave of African diaspora brings to the contemporary African Americans.

Key words: Toni Morrison, Tar Baby, cultural orphan, ethical identity, ethical predicament