Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif” was originally published in 1983 in Confirmation: An Anthology of African American Women. Her short story explores a friendship between two young girls, one black and one white, formed at shelter called St. Bonnys. When they first meet Twyla, the narrator, openly admitted that she “got sick to her stomach” because she “was stuck in a strange place with a girl from a whole other race (Morrison, 1983).” Twyla refuses to share the room with Roberta, but ultimately end up staying in the room because the owner, Ms. Itkin who Twyla refers to as Big Bozo, would not let her switch. Roberta disregarding everything Twyla said upon entering the room, begins conversation with trying to understand why Twyla is there. This is when their friendship begins to form as Twyla is starting to become more open to Roberta because she believes she understands her. They are both rejected and teased by the other children at St. Bonnys because they were not considered “real orphans”(Morrison 1983). Roberta is the first to go home. Before she leaves the girls are upset they will be splitting up and Roberta promises to write Twyla everyday. Later in life when they run into each other. Both are in different places in life in regards to social class. Roberta lives what seems to be a lavish, wealthy lifestyle and Twyla not so much. They have a huge falling out over details of their past and how it relates to their future. The racial tension in the world at this time picks away at their friendship leaving Roberta to realize that Twyla never changed since their time at St. Bonny’s. The two eventually meet up again and discuss things over apologizing to each other and attempt to understand their differences.
One of the main themes that was present in this short story was how youth and innocence affected their friendship. I prefaced the theme with a short summary because I think it is important to know the details of their friendship. It was set to fail from the beginning as Twyla immediately didn’t like Roberta based off her race. This was the first impression she made in the story and it was clear this behavior was taught from her mother. However, Roberta having the decency to look past this and get to know Twyla is what began to build their connection. While they were young it was evident they were able to look past race and find more things they had in common rather than their differences. They both were rejected by everyone else, including their own mothers, so they really only had each other. Their friendship casts a shadow on the fact they were taught not to like each other, almost making you forget for a moment that race was a problem at the beginning of the story. As they grow up and lose their innocence, we can also see them start to lose their ability to accept others for their differences. This is seen in regards to both race and social economic class. At the end of the story when Roberta and Twyla are discussing the details of what happened to Maggie, the lunch lady at St. Bonny’s. Roberta explains that she wanted to see Maggie get hurt and thought that she was black. Twyla makes a somewhat profound comment saying “we were kids (Morrison, 1983).” The timeline of the story suggests that youth and innocence can help hide your prejudice views, but they can and will be exposed at some point.
Sources:
Morrison, Toni. “Recitatif.” 1983, https://osu.instructure.com/courses/106813/files/33418722?module_item_id=6554301
You did a good job summarizing this story. I agree with you a 100%. Your main themes were exactly what the story was about. I think it’s very interesting how youth & innocence can change friendship later on in life. You had many points of proving so. I agree that with you that Twyla picked up her behavior from her mother. Most children pick up on things their parents believe in. It’s not good most of the time. Later in life the children realize it’s okay to have ideas of there own. It’s not okay to judge someone based off their looks.
Great job on your context presentation! I loved how you gave us an established background and then analyzed it by presenting main themes. Like you said, it’s quite remarkable to see how innocence plays a factor in how we view others. Roberta’s hope of helping Twyla understand is, though honorable, also childish. She doesn’t understand how racism could be described as a way of life by many. In my opinion, I think this it’s important to be childish at times because it’s this type of thinking that can encourage growth and acceptance in our society. In fact, Roberta’s actions played a large role in Twyla’s character development and attitude towards race.
Your presentation describes the story very well, and your point of view is also very brilliant. Children’s youth and innocence will indeed affect their friendship. When Twyla and Roberta were young, one was white and the other was black, but the children’s friendship would not be affected by skin color. They are indeed left in the St. Bonnie orphanage because of their mother’s love, and they are ridiculed and bullied by other children because of the “fake orphans”, but this does not affect their friendship. When they grew up, the two discussed most about each other’s mother and Maggie’s skin color every time they met. They quarrelled over Maggie’s different memories of her skin color. This highlights the racial problem at that time. Roberta understood racial issues and had a sense of resistance, while Twyla seemed to know nothing about racial issues and was indifferent to the black protest movement. It is this difference that affects the friendship between Twyla and Roberta.
You did a great job on your presentation, I enjoyed it very much. Your insights into the story are interesting, regarding the children picking up these prejudices from their mothers. During the meeting of the mothers, it’s interesting that Twyla is the child that does not want to be friends with Roberta because of her race and Roberta goes on to form the friendship anyway. But, it is Roberta’s mother that rejects Twyla’s mother’s hand when she offer’s it to her before entering the chapel. It’s an important concept that Toni Morrison may be hinting at. You can be exposed to prejudice thoughts early in life but that doesn’t mean you will harbor those feelings in the future. I think, racial discrimination and prejudice’s can be learned in your adolescences but I think some people are able to think differently. Even if it goes against what they were taught and their own family.
That was an amazing research context presentation. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your thoughts and discussion about how ones upbringing can alter your perception of reality. I agree with the themes you analyzed. A child does not come into the world knowing hate or racism. As is the case with the two daughters in the story. Their mothers indoctrinated them with thoughts and ideas about race, but it wasn’t until much later in life they began to form their own opinions..
Thank you for your context presentation. You did a great job on your context presentation. I appreciate how your talked about the character’s innocence and how as they aged that changed and they became more aware of prejudice’s. This really helped me understand how the girls changed throughout the story and how their relationship changed. As the girls aged their relationship was not as simple as it was when they were kids because they were no longer innocent to the world around them and they had each experience things along the way that shaped them.
I identify with your portrayal of the friendship between Roberta and Twyla and the subtle changes in their views on friendship and circumstance as they get older. This is especially evident in Roberta. When Roberta and Twyla first meet Twyla is the one who is more prejudiced against race, while Roberta still chooses to be friends with her. But by the end of the essay the grown-up Roberta has developed a concept of race, and at the same time the events of that time also made Twyla Urso feel, which led to a change in their friendship to some extent. This also shows a problem that the girls receive the influence of their parents’ ideas at a young age, while growing up slowly have their own views and values about the world.