Choose one of the following prompts for your response:
- There are many central issues in "Recitatif." Choose one of those issues (race in America or the nature of memory, for instance) and consider what the story is saying about that issue.
- Toni Cade Bambara titles her story "The Lesson." What is the "lesson" in the story? What lessons are readers supposed to take away from the story?
13 comments:
Response to the subject:
The racial issues in America within the short essay Recitatif. By Toni Morrison
What I found to be rather amazing within this story is the simple fact of how race took so
many various forms and had so many various affects throughout the story. When you look at
the two main characters Roberta and Twyla you see a cyclical time line while looking at the issue of race. Morrison opens by showing us Twyla’s inbred racism when she makes the comment “my mother wouldn’t like me staying here.” As the reader you begin to think this is one sided but as time goes on and we come to the scene in the chapel you notice Roberta’s mother’s racism although the racism on behalf of Roberta does not show up until later on down the road.
This particular section out of the reading draws to mind the simplicity of a child’s mind and how racism is something that has to be inbred into a child they do not learn on it on their own. They do not conjure up hate or disliking for someone just because they are another race, rather, this is something they have to be taught and seen put into action over the time. I’d like to focus on a very pivotal moment within the story and that was when after many years Twyla saw Roberta while she was working in the Howard Johnson. This is a prime example of peer pressure and how through the years while she was away from the orphanage her mother had that time to instill that disliking and superiority of the white race within her. I believe Roberta’s reaction had a lot to do with the group of people she was around at the time and these individuals gave her that resolve and made her believe that she was forced to play this role of superiority even though she was treating someone she truly considered a friend in a terrible way. Roberta used a key phrase when trying to justify her actions back at the Howard Johnson she said “the black-white thing.” When she makes reference to this black and white thing she makes reference to the fact that this was a time when her behavior was accepted by society as the norm.
To look someone in the face who you considered being one of your dear friends and making right of your actions due to the time and circumstances was and to this day still is wrong. The one connection that the two girls could make throughout the entire story was the connection between the two people who originally taught them this racism, their mothers. They found a common ground in the fact that both of their mothers gave them up for various reasons at various points within their lives; yet, I still find it interesting that Roberta could still feel superior when her mother’s “sickness” (which I believe actually has reference to an narcotic or alcohol addiction because Morrison does not specify) overthrew her life three times and landed her right back in the orphanage again.
Within the theme of race you can also make a correlation between race and success. Despite the fact that Roberta was out there living a wild life as she called it, lacked the education and was a substance abuser she still faired better in the end and had a better lifestyle in materialistic terms. So the question to be raised is why is that? I believe Toni Morrison is sending us an underlying message within this short story to let us see that as kids the world is very simplistic but the older you get and the more ideals are formulated and you are lead to be believe this way or that way is right the more you tend to loose focus on the basic things such as friendship and then you begin to see in a color based manor. No matter what is done it seemed to lie within the racial issue that a white person will always bounce back because they have and in all actuality are born with white privilege. This white privilege allows individuals like Roberta to bounce back and marry a man who is obvious she married for money being as she does not even know what exactly that he does for a living. Rather when it was talking about Twyla it went more in depth into her life and her life seemed continuous with stability as where the life of Roberta jumped around. Sadly enough, the life of Roberta would still be looked on as the better lifestyle to have, because in the end she attained the American dream of having a husband who makes money while she stays at home. I am curious to see the other responses and see what other students take on the short story was.
So true that there are many central issues in this story known as Recitatif. When we are kids, we go through many obstacles and scenarios that help us come to learn and cope with troubles that arise in our future . When we grow up and think back on our past memories, it is no surprise that exaggerations might arise. We go through so much in the stages of growing up, that when we become older, we try and think back to the specific circumstances to which made us the way we are now as adolescents or grownups. When we go through tragic experiences, we tend to remember only what we want to. In the story Roberta says, "Listen to me. I really did think she was black. I didn't make that up. I really thought so. But now I can't be sure.” with Roberta saying this, it is just confirmation that we remember and what we want to. Because Twyla and Roberta both wanted to join in and beat Maggie up so bad, they thought in their heads that it was really them and that it would have been okay to beat her up. Roberta had even said, “We didn't kick her. It was the gar girls. Only them.” Somehow after all these years pasted, the guilt within Roberta and Twyla was still amazingly prominent. The fact that they had so many pent up negative feelings, because they were both abandoned by their mothers, they looked at Maggie as a target to which they could let out their anger. It wasn’t Maggie they had pent up feelings for, it was their mothers, they had no other helpless individual that they could take their anger out on. Because Roberta and Twyla were good girls, they just had strong feelings and dreams of wanting to take out their anger and frustration on Maggie, but they never had the heart to go through with it. As they got older, they dreamed about it so much, that they made it a reality in their heads that they did, but once they got to truly thinking about it, they had realized that they never physically hurt Maggie themselves; and by recognizing that, they burst through their anger towards one another, and reunited again at the very end, and realized that they would be friends forever; and get through the existing pain of hostility of their mothers.
The “Lesson” in this story is not to take for granted the status you are in. Just know that there are people out there that can spend large lump sums of money on miscellaneous, unnecessary items, but the health and well being of your family is a lot more important. We should never put materialistic things before the well being of our family, when Miss Moore says "Imagine for a minute what kind of society it is in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven. What do you think?", that just confirms the lesson statement. As a reader, you should take away that you should be happy with what status you are in. No matter your skin color, man or woman, we should appreciate everything we have, and make sure the ones we love are being cared for with the bare necessities of life, before spending large amounts of money on items that do not help us survive on a daily basis. If and when you have money left over, is when you can buy items that are fun and not a basic need. This would be a corrupted world, if people always bought for pleasure first, rather than basic needs.
Out of the main characters in both stories, they all seemed to take for granted what they had. Then in the end, they all knew who and what they were at the end. In the first story, we got to see Roberta and Twyla grow up and see their progress, but in the second story, Sylvia did learn a “Lesson”, but she was still in a young naïve mindset, I would love to see where she ended up in the future. The difference between the two, was that Sylvia was already a so called violent bully already, but Roberta and Twyla were silent bully’s; they wanted to take out their anger on others, but they just thought about it and never acted upon it.
Race vs. Time Periods and Personality in “Recitatif”
I believe that the main subject and focus of the short story, “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison is the fact that beliefs of race fluctuate with age, as well as periods in time; therefore can directly affect one’s personality. At an early age, Twyla was taught by her mother that African Americans never washed their hair and smelled funny. So, naturally, when Twyla meets her roommate, Roberta, at the shelter, her stomach immediately feels upset. She was raised to feel this way, and she believed her mother was not going to like her roommate. However, as throughout most of the story, Twyla’s ignorance in the understandings of racial inequality allows her to befriend Roberta. It is apparent that the other children in the shelter were taught about racism because the others would often call Twyla and Roberta “Salt and Pepper,” perhaps in a teasing way. The meeting of the two girls’ mothers is significant because it shows how race affected the women’s reactions to each other because of the time period. Roberta’s mother rudely ignores Mary. This shows that Roberta’s mother obviously disapproves of her daughter’s white friend. This is because of the fact that during this time period, whites and blacks were completely separate. Naturally, Roberta’s mother was merely acting in the same way any African American would act at the time.
The first infamous reunion was that of Twyla and Roberta at Howard Johnson’s. This meeting is significant because of the stingy “wow” Roberta gives when realizing who she has run into. Usually, this would be an elated reunion; however, as Roberta so nicely puts it upon a later meeting, “how it was in those days: black-white.” Roberta was very rude to Twyla. Twyla, who still had an innocence about her at this time, was very hurt and had not idea why Roberta had acted this way. As she puts it in a later meeting, she did not know how it was during that time. She believed it was the exact opposite. Being white, Twyla most likely did not face discrimination like Roberta had, so she did not understand. Roberta, the opposite, had obviously gone through a lot, which in turn, seemed to harden her personality. She had her wild phase and experimented with drugs, whereas Twyla seemed to be sort-of sheltered like the typical young white American might be during those times. This relates to the fact that throughout the story, Twyla keeps her oblivious persona, while Roberta, faced with the real world, has a more hardened and realistic personality.
Upon a second and more joyous meeting, Twyla recounts, “I tried to think why we were glad to see each other this time and not before.” The two were “allowed” to be happy and carry on as friends because the time period was different. This shows more evidence of the reality that beliefs of race fluctuate with periods of time. This also shows that each meeting had been affected by the girls’ personality. Being of the younger and more “hard-core” crowd, Roberta felt as though she must be rude to her white friend. This was probably because her friends treated whites that way; therefore, she had to have a cruel personality towards them. Later, when she had matured and the people around her were accepting of whites, she could be too.
The third and intense meeting between the two women occurs while Roberta is picketing at the school. During the picketing scene, the two women come to a head when they discover they have very different views because of their ethnic background. Yet again, Twyla does not fully understand what the big deal is about children switching schools. Her naïve personality leads her, in fact, to feel the complete opposite. She looks at the women picketing and seems to be disgusted in a way, remarking that they think they own the place and they can not decide where her child goes to school. This is the first time in the story that Twyla has any opinion, especially a racist one, of the African Americans. I believe the period of time influenced her to feel this way. Racial integration in schools was a very tense time, and Twyla was finally exposed to the reality in which Roberta’s life had always known. I think this scared Twyla so much that, in a way, she felt pressured to picket on the other side. However, the only one she was really picketing against was Roberta because without Roberta’s signs, her signs made no sense. In the women’s last run-in during the Christmas holidays, time has past once again. The two are older and wiser now; therefore, they are able to put aside their differences. Both have matured and so have their personalities. I believe that they have both finally come the realization that, even though both are very different, they can still get along just as they did as young children. In a sense, both personalities have made a full circle.
Whitney Moore I couldn't agree with you more in the fact that Twyla and Roberta had thought about hurting Maggie so much that they thought it actually occurred. That just goes to show that the memory can be affected by so many things. For instance, your memory can be tested by you alone, by someone else who went through the same thing, or by time. Memories can certainly be altered throughout one’s life and can turn into something completely different. In the selection “Recitatif,” Toni Morrison portrays the nature of memory through Roberta and Twyla’s conflicting recollection of what truly happened to Maggie.
First, the nature of memory can be altered by a friend who experienced the same things as you. From the very beginning Twyla is confident in her memory of what happened to Maggie. However, her confidence in her story quickly dwindles down to nothingness as Roberta tells her side of the story. Roberta tells Twyla, “Maggie didn’t fall. They knocked her down. Those girls pushed her down and tore her clothes. In the orchard.” Twyla immediately starts to question her story and begins to wonder if she has remembered it wrong. The very same reaction occurs with most people when someone tells them something that is completely different from how they remembered it. Deep consideration of the matter is then taken in order to try to remember what actually occurred. Uncertainty quickly fills people and causes them to question the memory all together. Therefore, the hesitation of believing what you have all along can cause the clearness of the memory to slowly become murky. Someone else’s memory is trying to overtake your memory and as a result causes the two to become one.
Furthermore, the current time and place can have an effect on the memory. At another meeting between Twyla and Roberta, Roberta adds to her story. She states, “You’re the same little state kid who kicked a poor old black lady when she was down on the ground.” A new and different variation of the story of Maggie is revealed. The time that Roberta and Twyla are now living in has an effect on the way Roberta remembers Maggie. In this particular instance, I think that the reason Roberta thinks Maggie was black and that Twyla had kicked her is because of all the trouble that is occurring between the two races in society. It makes more sense to Roberta at this time to think that Maggie was black. It is the only explanation as to why white girls could kick someone and not feel bad about doing so. I think that Roberta believes that they kicked Maggie out of hatred for her being black. The current time and place can greatly affect the way you remember something that has happened in the past.
Overall, as time continues and more thought is put into the memory, only you can decide what truly occurred. What others say and the time that you live in must be put on the back burner and you must try to remember what you believed happened from the very beginning. As Twyla states, “I tried to reassure myself about the race thing for a long time until it dawned on me that the truth was already there, and Roberta knew it.” The mind can play tricks on us, but remember your first instinct is always the best one to follow and therefore should be the one that can be trusted the most.
Recitatif:
Childhood Memories-or Are They?
I remember when I was a little girl I used to ask my mom what her life was like as a child. She would always respond with “it’s been too long ago, I don’t remember anymore”. I remember feeling like that answer was not good enough. How could she not remember something as exciting as childhood? I remember everything that I am doing right now, why couldn’t she? Now as a 22 year old college senior I have a better understanding what my mother was talking about. As you get older and experience more things, memories important as childhood begin to slowly fade away from existence. Things are remembered, but not as clearly. You begin to doubt your best memories. Do I remember this actually happening, or did I see a picture of this? Do I remember wearing that dress, or did I watch a video of me in that dress? Things begin to be fuzzy.
“Recitatif” really explores the issue of childhood memories. Twyla was very certain that she remembered her experience with Roberta in the orchard as “Maggie fell down once.” Twyla never thought that Maggie had ever been hurt, although she wondered what it would be like if Maggie got hurt considering that she is a mute. But later in the story when Roberta and Maggie were reminiscing about their childhood, Roberta told Twyla that “Maggie was pushed”. This sets Twyla off in a panic. “Roberta had messed up my past somehow with that business about Maggie. I wouldn’t forget a think like that. Would I?” I think everybody experiences this type of panic in one form or another when dealing with memory. Thinking that something is so sure in your mind then finding out that you were wrong can be a very disheartening experience. One begins to question other memories. Did this really happen to me? Am I making another assumption about my past?
Later in the story Roberta and Twyla have another encounter with childhood memories when Roberta tells Twyla, “you kicked her (Maggie). We both did. You kicked a black lady who couldn’t even scream.” Twyla tells Roberta she is a liar and feels angrier than ever. Roberta is so sure of this statement that at the end of the story when she and Twyla meet for the last time she confesses her thoughts to Twyla. “Listen to me. I really did think she was black. But now I can’t be sure.” Both Roberta and Twyla have memories that they aren’t sure of. And both are stripped away of the comfort of remembering the past.
“Recitatif” shows readers that you can never be sure of what happened in the past, whether you encountered it or not. I believe that both Roberta and Twyla believed they were right about the accounts of their childhood. I also believe that both of them were angry when different stories were conveyed about what they remembered. “Recitatif” tells a story of two women who were different as salt and pepper. They grew up differently, had different life experiences, and even had different memories. In the long run though, the ended up together, worked through their differences, took each memory as a learning experience, and continued to live their life.
I agree with Janvier about how many different forms racism took in this short story. It began with two children, thrown into a situation that neither wanted nor accepted for the longest time. No friends, just enemies is how I noticed the writing about St. Bonny's went, but because neither girls had friends they had to put racism aside to be able to make it out of there alive.
Where I really think that the racism factor starts to shine through is after the first day and the whole, "my mother won't like you putting me here," and after the family weekend visit with Roberta's mother. The fact that racism was such a big deal back in that time period makes these two girl's friendship an amazing thing to have, even if they were torn away from eachother at the end of just one year.
Later in the story when Twyla was working at the Howard Johnson and Roberta came in I got totally blown away by the way the Twyla was treated. I mean I know that there is the whole peer-pressure aspect of it all, but if you had a childhood friend that you had spent so much time and emotional events with, than I really do not understand how she could be treated that way.
Another spot of racism that I noticed was when they were both protesting the bussing of their children. It turned out that they even stopped protesting that subject with their picket signs, and instead were just throughing their feelings for one another onto a sign and parading across the street hoping the other would take a quick glance.
All in all though, by the end of the story they have made up over a cup of coffee, or was it really heart felt? In the story it says that "they all looked a little drunk," and I know that some may say that when you are drunk your true feelings come out, but how could two people jsut forgive and forget all of the things that had happened in their past? And another thing I really do not understand is that, I know that Maggie has a reason about why she was in the story, but I do not get why she keeps popping up and the ending perplexed me. Any help would be appreciated.
I believe the main problem in the story “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison is the way racial tensions can really affect a friendship in many ways. Before Twyla first moved to St. Bonaventure, her mother had told her many different things about the other race like how they never washed their hair and they smelled funny. We don’t know what each of them are but just from that statement it shows me that the racial tensions at that time were starting to increase. It became obvious that the other children were taught the same principle about racism often calling Twyla and Roberta “Salt and Pepper”. Even with their hostile feelings they become friends despite it all. You could also sense hostility when their mothers came to visit one Sunday. As Mary (Twyla’s mom) went to shake hands with Roberta’s mom, she rudely walked away without saying a word. I’m thinking that Roberta’s mom didn’t approve of her daughter’s friend because she was from a different race. When they met for the first time in Howard Johnson’s, all Roberta could say was “wow”. I think that if she would have acknowledged the fact that she was friends with Twyla then she would be probably considered a traitor. When they meet again, it seems as if Roberta is friendlier than before when she was with her friends. I think it was mostly because of the pressure to do what everyone else was doing that she didn’t want to talk to Twyla that much. The last part of the story when racial tensions are shown is during the protesting of the bussing of their children. Twyla isn’t for the bussing but doesn’t want any trouble so when Roberta tries to convince her that she shouldn’t want this happening, it shows Twyla what Roberta thinks of her when she 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.” Throughout the entire story, there are ups and downs when they reminiscence about the past and when they go back to the argument about how each were treated. I think that they were both somewhat right about what happened in the past with what happened to Maggie. She did fall down but when she did the other girls began to attack her because she was of a different race. Both girls had been through the trials and tribulations of growing up in a racist world but in the end the both learned and grew from each of their same but different experiences.
I find it amazing that right off the bat, the story starts off with racism. Mary tells her little girl at a young age, “They never wash their hair and they smell funny.” This is so true in some families that at such a young age parents are setting bad examples for their children. If I was a little kid and my dad would have told me that I would have automatically believed him because parents are our role models; we believe everything they say for the most part.
The moment Twyla arrives at the orphanage she puts her mothers teaching into effect by saying, “My mother won’t like you putting me in here.” This goes to show parents how much they influence their children. Her mother imbeds in her daughter that the opposite race is automatically bad people. There are too many families in America that teach this. Especially in the little town I am from. Twyla enters her relationship with Roberta on the wrong foot because she is going in there with a bad attitude by telling herself bad things such as I would have killed her if she would have laughed.
Roberta as well was raised similar to Twyla. Her mother too raised her to think that someone of the opposite race is not a good person. So Roberta’s upbringings as well come into effect early in the story by her turning her back to Twyla when they first meet.
Race plays too big of a role in our society. As we can see from this story, some children are raised on wrong morals and they carry those morals with them for a long time until they learn better, if they ever do. Twyla and Roberta were just kids when they realized that race did not really matter to them and that is the way it should be in our society. For the most part race did not matter to them, well, at least when they were kids. They were almost forced to hang out with each other and they came to like one another. They realized how nice the other person was. Now, if people in our society can just forget about racial issues and look at people for who they really everything will be a lot better.
They did not realize it but reality set in when their mothers came to visit them in the orphanage. The mother’s meeting was not pleasant because they were both so filled with a disliking for the opposite race. I have seen this happen too many times. I moved from New Orleans to a small country town will both races equal in population. I had just as many colored friends as I did white friends. That made no difference to me whatsoever. I learned fast that most of the town was so behind in times. I mean they still flew the rebel flag and disliked colored people very much. I could not believe it. I can remember when a colored kid came into my neighborhood and some parents were mad to see that because they disliked the opposite race and they did not want him in there. I did not see what the big deal was; he was no different to me. I personally liked him very much. As I said earlier, parents will impact their children more than anyone because they are the biggest role models for their children. If someone is raised in a house where hatred and racism is taught, it will stick with you forever.
Racism had a big role in this story. There were times when it did not matter and sometimes it did. Somehow, Twyla learned how to forget about her mother’s way of life and get past the racism and see the true person. I think in the end of the story the two girls mad a peace with each other for good. I hope that more people in America will do the same. Racism is a big issue in our world today and it should not be. People act different and have many different ways of life and doing things but no one should be treated different because we are all equal just like Twyla and Roberta.
In order to understand the role that memory plays in “Recitatif” by Toni Morrion, a short story about racial issues, it is necessary to understand that Roberta is not the only character with racial biases. In fact, the first racial theme is introduced by Twyla herself in the middle and at the end of the second paragraph: “they never washed their hair and they smelled funny,” and “My mother won’t like you putting me in here.” The short story then spans a very long time period, in order to show the evolving racial dispositions of the times, and not only how each character reacts, but how the personal memories of what happened to the kitchen woman Maggie changes with time and person.
The mutable memory of Maggie is a nice construct to show how each character subconsciously feels about race. The short story is littered with small examples of this. Like the parents of Twyla’s husband James continuing to call the A&P store “Rico’s,” just because that is just what they want to believe it to be. Or how the college is still the Town Hall. In all actuality, “the town they remembered had changed.” In the same sense, this sentence can be translated to Twyla and Roberta’s situation. The Maggie they remembered had changed, even though they continued to call it something they believed was right, or wanted to be true.
The statement that I think is the dividing line between the two memories, and what serves as the pivotal moment that is attached to the final line of the short story is what Roberta says to Twyla after they meet for the second time in the grocer’s. “Oh, Twyla, you know how it was in those days: black—white. You know how everything was.” This is said only a page after Roberta introduces the idea that perhaps Twyla’s memory is faulty and not to be trusted. In fact, by the end of the story, both characters doubt what they can remember, and it can be said that “you don’t know how everything was.” Neither knows everything. The two characters’ memories run on inverted paths, meaning that there was indeed a “black—white” structure to their past, but by present day, that distinction has blurred considerably, so much so that neither character can claim what was once theirs, hence the question, “what the hell happened to Maggie?”
The use of memory creates some very interesting racial questions, not only for the two characters, but also for the reader. Morrison withholds some information about the memory until more than halfway through the story. Doing this allowed me to create, per se, my own memory of St. Bonny’s and what “really happened.” I was shocked to find that I imagine Maggie to be a black person, when in fact, Twyla remembers her as being white. When looking at the story in this way, I believe that this was the intended effect in using memory. Memory, to Morrison, is the mechanism that brings Twyla and Roberta to realize their bigotry over the past years.
The two memories butt heads in the picketing passage. This is the culmination of the short story, what has been building since their first meeting in the Howard Johnson. Twyla and Roberta finally pit their memories against each other, and what results is a huge argument, rocking cars, and insults about mothers (I think that’s a big thing I missed in the story, the role of mothers, but anyway), and all of a sudden, it’s over. The climax drops off, and each character withdraws from the arena. When Twyla and Roberta meet for the final time, we see two characters struggling with the fact that the incident or memory can no longer be described in terms of black and white. Perhaps this is what Morrison envisioned, or portrayed in the story. Let us not remember something as menial as black and white. It means nothing. If anything, “just remember her as old, so old.”
The issue of race and or racism is central throughout Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif.” The story starts off with Twyla having a negative attitude towards rooming with Roberta at St. Bonny’s. Feeling sick to her stomach, Twyla thinks to herself, “It was one thing to be taken out of your own bed early in the morning- it was something else to be stuck in a strange place with a girl from a whole different race.” Now, the reader cannot automatically be bias toward Twyla for saying this, for it is not Twylas’s fault that her mother engraved in her head that black people “never washed their hair and smelled funny.” This shows that racist attitudes begin in children due to their parents’ beliefs towards others. Morrison also shows that although children observe their parents actions, they do not always come to hold their parents beliefs, such as Twyla. Twyla eventually learned to accept Roberta and develop a wonderful friendship with her. As time went on, both girls realized that although they saw through each other’s skin color, many people did not. For example, the gar girls at the orphanage emphasized that black and white people were distinctly different when they would call out “salt and pepper” to Twyla and Roberta. Racism is shown at its best when Roberta’s mother ignores Twyla’s mother, showing her disapproval in her daughter’s white friend. This shows that although two people, in this case, Roberta and Twyla, try to overcome racial beliefs, some people will never change. On the same note, people will act according to the norms of their society. Since whites and blacks at the time were believed to be completely different from each other, neither race wanted to associate with the other. Although times have changed, many people, especially older adults, stay true to their racial beliefs and refuse to accept change. For example, Twyla’s in-laws continued to call the A&P store, “Rico’s” and the college “Town Hall” because it was what they wanted it to be named. They failed to realize that their old town had actually changed within the years. This can also relate to Twyla and Roberta’s situation with Maggie. The Maggie they remembered from the orphanage had grown up and changed, but they continued to recall the situation as they believed it was true. Throughout the story Twyla and Roberta’s friendship is inhibited by a sense of uncrossable racial divide, which is demonstrated through the national racial tensions of the busing crisis. But the debate becomes more than blacks and whites differing in their beliefs regarding their children’s future. People begin protesting in the street not for their children’s sake, but for their own hatred towards the other race. Twyla is the perfect example when she projects her “AND SO DO CHILDREN” sign in hopes that the other race, especially Roberta, will be hurt by it. After years of never reconciling with each other, the girls finally come to their senses and are able to put their differences aside. Both of them learn that neither of them is better or worse than the other- they are equal. They also learn that society’s racial views are not always correct. Twyla was brought up believing whites are better than blacks. Years later, Twyla realizes that her best friend, Roberta, who is an African American, is better off financially in life than herself. Twyla finds it hard to believe that her African America best friend is wearing gowns and furs, something she would have never seen as a child. On the other side, Roberta was taught as a child that white people were lazy and did not have to work since the world was handed to them. Roberta realizes that this does not hold true for her friend Twyla, who has to work as a waitress everyday to help support her family. Ironically, Toni Morrison ends the story by making the reader wish he or she was an African American because it is Roberta who ends up living the every American’s dream of becoming successful in life. I think Toni Morrison leaves the reader with the idea that friendship is a precious thing that can last forever, even through the rough times, if each partner has the desire to make it work.
I believe what Toni Morrison accomplished most with her short story “Recitatif” was ultimately revealing the true ignorance which is racism. The story begins by displaying the innocence and pure nature of childhood, only then to shock the reader with the harsh reality of the burden racism truly encompasses. Morrison uses the characters Twyla and Roberta to showcase the transformation that culture and your surroundings can have on your whole outlook on life.
When Twyla meets Roberta, Twyla knows that Roberta is black and has already been told by her mother that “they never wash their hair and they smelled funny”. At such a young age, she is already being taught that blacks and whites are different. However, due to the innocence that children possess, it is not skin color that they care about. All they can see is a friend, someone that has also been forced into an undesirable situation, someone they can talk to. This is a beautiful idea, and where the story starts to turn is when Twyla and Roberta meet again, only years later. At this point, Morrison begins to make the point that a friendship, a deep connection, an everlasting bond, just simply isn’t enough to traverse the deep rut that racism had made at that point in time. To me, this had a very deep impact. To override all that they had shared on the notion that one of them was white and the other one was black seems like such a ludicrous concept. The reader thinks, “Well, I wouldn’t let that come between me and my childhood-friend.” Then you see that Twyla had also felt that way. Their first meeting came as a huge disappointment to Twyla, when Roberta seemed to want to ignore the fact that they had ever known each other. However, their second chance meeting at the grocery invoked different feelings. Twyla was shocked to hear that Bozo had been black, once again, proving the innocence of younger years. They had not teased Bozo because she was a different race but simply because she was a mute. Twyla was appalled not only because this completely shook her memory, but also because Roberta made it a point to say that she kicked a poor black woman. The two of them weren’t going to make it. Roberta tells Twyla to call her sometime. Twyla says okay but knows she never will. The next times their paths cross, it is a full out war due to skin color when it should truly be about what is best for their children. Years later, they meet again, when perhaps segregation and integration weren’t the only things consuming American minds. This time, a glimmer of what they once shared finally shines through.
Throughout the story, the characters actions are a direct response to what is happening around them at the time. It is a sad realization that we can’t overcome the imposition of others opinions on our relationships as we can when we are children. That is what I took away from this story, the charm of innocence and the ignorance of racism.
Last semester, I learned in psychology class that memory is one of the few characteristics that sets humans apart from other species. Memories can be affected in a lot of different ways. Someone can modify or completely forget an event if the brain thinks it will help them cope with the situation. This is true for everyone. It is also true for everyone, that memories formed during your childhood are hard to keep straight. We can embellish a memory, or only remember a small part of it. The nature of memory is a central issue in Recitatif. Both of the main characters, Roberta and Twyla, had stresses and hardships in their lives. They were abandoned by their mothers and spent time in St. Bonny’s, which was not the safest environment. One way they dealt with the everyday stresses of St. Bonny’s and their relationships with their mothers was through their memory. This was illustrated in the way they remembered the story about Maggie.
Roberta remembered the Maggie situation in one way and changed her mind several times. In one of Roberta and Twyla’s first encounters, Roberta thought that “the gar girls knocked [Maggie] down.” She even went as far as to say she remembered the gar girls tearing her clothes and that they were in the orchard. In the next encounter, Roberta told Twyla in an accusing tone that “you kicked her. We both did.” Finally, in their last encounter Roberta explained to Twyla that the gar girls did do it, but she reminds Twyla that both Twyla and Roberta wanted to kick Maggie. It was hard for both girls to cope with the fact that they wanted to hurt Maggie, who was just a helpless mute girl who hadn’t done anything to either of them. Roberta and Twyla felt guilty. Their guilt and the fact that it happened a long time ago, altered their memory. Twyla chose to deal with the Maggie story in a slightly different way. She didn’t remember the events perfectly; she thought Maggie just fell and was laughed at by the gar girls. Roberta and Twyla had a different interpretation of the event.
Even though the two girls built up a lot of anger towards Maggie, I think it is definitely true that the anger was a byproduct of their situations with their mothers. Roberta’s mother was sick and although she visited Roberta, she never was stable. Roberta ended up returning to St. Bonny’s two more times after she left the first time. She finally got so fed up with the St. Bonny’s that she ran away. Twyla’s situation with her mother was awful, too. Her mother would go to St. Bonny’s to visit Twyla and would just embarrass Twyla with her racist remarks. Mary never even brought Twyla lunch for the two of them to enjoy together. Roberta and Twyla used Maggie as a scapegoat; they took out their anger for their mother’s on her. Even though they did not physically harm Maggie, they wanted to, and that was enough to put a weight on their shoulders. In the end, the only people Roberta and Twyla could talk to about their mothers and their time at St. Bonny’s was each other. When they were at St. Bonny’s, Twyla mentions that she never talked about her mother to anyone else, and she felt comfortable confiding in Roberta because Roberta didn’t judge. She just nodded and asked very few questions. The Maggie incident took them years to figure out, but together Roberta and Twyla figured out what really happened.
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I think this story recognizes the trouble our society faces with such a large economic gap. I think that Miss Moore is a very important character in this story, because she not only teaches the children their basic arithmetic, she brings them out into society to experience first hand the issues that exist. She wants them to not only know what’s going on but to also truly understand that there are people who can afford to buy their children $1000 sailboats, while other parents can’t even afford to provide their children with paper and a desk area for homework. I think that Miss Moore was successful in her attempt to expose the children to society’s problems. As Sylvia approached FAO Schwarz, she seemed a bit hesitant and even thought to herself that this was an odd feeling, because she’s never felt “shy about doing nothing or going nowhere.” Miss Moore also had an influence on Sugar. Sugar begins to explain to Miss Moore that our society is not much of a democracy, that we are not equal. Miss Moore has always told the children that “where we are is who we are…but it don’t necessarily have to be that way.”
I think that the “lesson” we, as the reader, are supposed to walk away with is that we should be thankful for what we have, and for the things we don’t need, we should give to those who are not as fortunate. As the story states, many of these children do not even have an area in their homes to do homework, so how are they expected to truly experience learning. I also think that just as Miss Moore did, we should subject ourselves to society’s problems. Miss Moore made Sylvia and Sugar feel something, something that they had not felt before. I believe that it takes being exposed to something and experiencing those initial feelings to get that internal fire going. I think that Sylvia’s character explains how much of society reacts. She feels like something is wrong, but yet shrugs it off as if it didn’t bother her. I also think that the last line of the story has significance because, just as Sylvia’s character, we are all competitive in today’s world. This story recognizes the racial, social, and economical competition we face everyday, and I think that we need to take from this story the fact that our world is not equal. We are the ones who continue to make it that way, and so it is our responsibility to change it.
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