Recitatif
Toni Morrison's essay, "Recitatif" is about two girls, Twyla and Roberta, who grow up in an orphanage because their mothers could not properly care for them. The underlying theme in "Recitatif" deals with racism. An interesting twist is the mystery of the girls' race. Leaving clues, but never stating whether Twyla or Roberta was black or white, Morrison makes it clear that the girls come from different ethnic backgrounds. At one point in the essay Twyla comments, "that we looked like salt and pepper." Due to the fact that the story is told in the first person, it seems natural for the reader to associate Twyla with himself/herself. "Recitatif" proves to be a noteworthy experiment, "toying" with the reader's emotions and effectively noting stereotypical races and their characteristics. Morrison never states the race of the girls for a purpose: to make the reader form his/her own opinion. The story begins with Twyla's mother dropping her off at the orphanage. There she met Roberta, who became her best friend, bonding because they were not real orphans with "beautiful dead parents in the sky." Instead of being "real" orphans, they were just abandoned kids whose mother's did not wa
nt them. Although the girls had few friends, their lives did not lack adventure. For example, they enjoyed spying on the big girls who liked to smoke and dance, and sadly got a laugh out of yelling mean things at Maggie, the woman who couldn't defend herself because she was mute. One of the last times the girls saw each other in the orphanage was the day of the picnic. Shortly after the picnic Roberta's mother came to take her home, marking the first small fracture in their friendship. Morrison gives clues to encourage the reader to make assumptions about the girls' race. From the beginning the author asserts that one girl is black and one is white, but not which is which. There are many instances that Morrison uses things that are stereotypically "black" or "white," almost begging one to infer the race of each girl. Although there is no answer to the mystery, what one decides for himself/herself says something about his/her own ethnic background. When they met at the restaurant that Twyla works at Roberta was rude and distant. At the restaurant Roberta was accompanied by two other men. Twyla mentions that "her hair was so big and wild I could hardly see her face." However she did recognize her. The fact that her hair was big and wild like an Afro could indicate that she was black because blacks sometimes have "big" hair. However, the time period of the story is the 1970's and the Afro was a common hairstyle, meaning that any one could have worn their hair that way. Also while they were at the restaurant, Roberta tells Twyla that she is on the way to see Hendrix. Jimi Hendrix was an infamous black guitarist. The reader
Some common words found in the essay are:
Twyla Roberta, Jimi Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix's, Oh Twyla, Strangely Roberta, twyla roberta, Toni Morrison's, Twyla Twyla, twyla's mother, black white, restaurant roberta, black people, roberta black, Sommers Feldman, black people chicken, wash hair, his/her own, diverse audience, chicken legs, restaurant twyla roberta, picnic roberta's mother,
Approximate Word count = 1102
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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