Toni Morrison’s Recitatif
is a short story depicting the lives of two girls, Twyla and Roberta who
initially meet in an orphanage, St. Bonaventure. Each of their moms had decided that they
could not take care of their daughter, one because her mother was sick, the
other because her mom, “danced all night” (996). While Morrison doesn’t
explicitly tell the reader about the color difference, she instead uses vivid
imagery to show the reader that Twyla is black and Roberta black. While at St. Bonny’s the girls get a visit
from their mothers and yet again very strong imagery is used to show the
difference between the two girls and their mothers. Using clothing as a
separating factor Morrison writes, “she had on those green slacks I hated and
hated even more now because didn’t she know we were going to chapel? And that
fur jacket with the pocket linings so ripped she had to pull to get her hands
out of them (998).” In addition she shows that Roberta’s mother refused to
shake hands with a black woman, “Mary, simple-minded as ever, grinned and tried
to yank her hand out of the pocket with the raggedy lining—to shake
hands…Roberta’s mother looked down at me and then looked down at Mary too…and
stepped out of line (999).”
The girl’s second
encounter was years later after they both had grown up some. While Twyla was,
“working behind the counter at the Howard Johnson,” Roberta was waiting in the
lobby to be checked into a room. Here
the reader begins to see the difference between the two girls as Twyla didn’t
know who Jimi Hendrix was and was called an “asshole” for not knowing (1001).
Their next encounter was
at a new grocery store where they are finally able to sit down and talk, unlike
their previous encounter. Morrison informs the reader that they are both now
married and have children. Showing the difference in status, Morrison writes that
Twyla’s husband James was a fireman and Roberta’s husband did so well that she
had a driver and a “dark blue limousine” (1003). During this encounter both
women share past memories however Twyla is upset by some of the memories
Roberta recalled that she does not remember.
The final two encounters
are very different however both continue to show the difference in the two
women. In one scene both women are found picketing on separate sides for and
against forced integration where Roberta says, “Maybe I am different now,
Twyla. But you’re not. You’re the same little state kid who kicked a poor old
black lady when she was down on the ground. You kicked a black lady and you
have the nerve to call me a bigot (1006).” Here we see racial tensions rise and
it also shows Roberta’s true feelings about Twyla. In addition in the final
encounter and close of the book, we see that while Twyla is simply out shopping
for a last minute Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, while Roberta is just
leaving a party where “men were dressed in tails and the women had on
furs…shiny things glittered from underneath their coats,” further showing the
differences between the two characters.
The title, Recitatif
culminates the entire story but also stems from the word recitative which the
Oxford English Dictionary defines as “a style of music declamation intermediate
between singing and ordinary speech, used esp. in the dialogue and narrative
parts of an opera or oratorio (Definition 1).” In addition it can also be
defined as, “a musical part or passage (intended to be) delivered in
recitative; a piece of music that accompanies such a part or passage”
(definition 3a). These two definitions show the interworking’s of this story
and the lives of the characters. It
depicts the idea that each of the 5 encounters that Twyla and Roberta had were
each different from each other but are brought back together at the end to form
one work.
1. What in the story helped you differentiate the
two main characters? What were the hints & clues?
2. Have you experienced a situation
like that of Twyla and Roberta’s mothers?
3. What role does Maggie play in the
story? Why is she important?
4. Is race important in today’s
society?
I believe that Roberta is white (salt) and Twyla was black (pepper). The first hint was the names. It is known in the black community that names are made up and uncommon, hence Twyla, verse a normal name like Roberta. The situation that occurred when the two girls mothers both came on the same Sunday also gave me clues to who was black and who white. Twyla’s mother came to the shelter with green tight pants on and used obscene language. I feel those actions could only be done by a black mother. I am aware that I am basing my judgments off of regular stereotypes and that I could be absolutely wrong and Roberta could be black and Twyla could be black. I generalizations about why that could be the case as well. It is also known in the black culture to turn the father of a child name and make it feminine to create a girl child’s name. Maybe Roberta’s father name was Robert. Also a lot of black women are Christian, hard, stern, and sometimes unapproachable, so this could explain Roberta’s mother’s actions.
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