Recitatif is Toni Morrison’s first, and only, published short story. The short came out in 1983 in Confirmation: An Anthology of African American Women, a collection of fiction, poems, essays, and short plays that delved into the life of Black women in American society. Toni Morrison was born in 1931, in Lorain, Ohio and while she grew up in an area that was semi-integrated, racial discrimination still ran rampant. According to the National Women’s History Museum, when Morrison was just two years old, her family’s apartment building set their home on fire while they were inside because they couldn’t afford their rent. As she got older, she focused her time on her studies and attended Howard University, a historically black institution in Washington, D.C. Throughout her time at Howard University, she got a closer look at the divisions there were in society due to skin tone.
Recitatif, is the French form of “recitative,” which is a style of dialogue, often used in operas sings ordinary speech, typically during interludes. According to Merriam-Webster, recitative is literally “a rhythmically free vocal style that imitates the natural inflections of speech…” This title refers directly to the episodic nature of the story of the two characters, Twyla and Roberta. Morrison breaks up the stories in five parts, where they go through the years and reflect on their childhood. In her short story, Morrison identifies one woman as white and the other as black, but she deliberately chooses not to reveal which woman identifies with which race. I think it is very significant that she chose to focus on five stories throughout their childhood and avoid the discussion of who was black or white to shift the reader’s focus.
By not being explicit about which girl is African American and which girl is Caucasian, it points out racial codes that are ingrained in us by society, and by our own perceptions of the world. The impulse to “solve” who is white and who is black in the story is at the core of why Morrison chose to exclude the answers. Twyla and Roberta represent racial binaries, the black and white, and how Maggie, this character that they revisit from their past allows the women to have a shared narrative that provides them a means for a new understanding of their vastly different versions of their history. The stories about Maggie moves the readers to see past the racial binaries that are present from the start and instead look at the complexity of their lives, and how race cannot be determined solely based on racial codes.
References:
Alexander, Kerri Lee. “Toni Morrison.” National Women’s History Museum, 2019. Accessed 19 Sep. 2021.
Benjamin, Shanna Greene. “The Space that Race Creates: An Interstitial Analysis of Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif”.” Studies in American Fiction, vol. 40 no. 1, 2013, p. 87-106. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/saf.2013.0004.
Morrison, Toni. Recitatif. Morrow, 1983.
“Recitative.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recitative. Accessed 19 Sep. 2021.
First, it stood out to me that Toni Morrison is from Lorain, Ohio because that isn’t far from where I am from! It is crazy that someone set her apartment on fire, I feel as though there was better ways to do about this. Was it racial motivated? Overall, I enjoyed you context presentation and think you did a good job!
I thought that was context presentation was really great at helping me to understand why Morrison chose to write the way that she did. It was not lost on me that she never explicitly said who was white and who was black, but it was obvious that they were different. I believe that is was Twyla who said her mother would not be happy she was with Roberta first, so I originally thought maybe Twyla was white. There were several times throughout the story where I had to go back and reread the dialogue to be sure that I was keeping the person speaking aligned with the words. Thank you for this presentation and helping to clarify the story!
This is a very interesting topic. Even with all of the books, movies, and literature sometimes it is truly not possible to completely step in their shoes or what Morrison and others like her went through. I can not imagine being in situation where your home is set on fire when struggling to pay for rent. It is also interesting how close this happened to home. I live just about an hour and a half East of Lorain. Her story is very interesting. Your presentation was very good and had plenty of information.
This was a very intelligent and well written analysis. I understand better Morrisons thought process now, and have a different perspective on the writing. I really liked how you brought in the “racial codes” in society and how each person has their own perception on the world. I thought the story was a little confusing as it was not very clearly made out who was who on purpose, but your write up helped me understand what I read better.
I thought that it was very significant that the two girls were clearly of different races and that Morrison was sure to leave out which one was which. I thought about this deeply in the reading while trying to figure out who is who. Your post helped me to get a better and deeper understanding of why she wrote her short story in this way and how our own personal perceptions have an impact on how we view these characters.
Great job on your post! I live very close to the place where Toni Morrison was born – Lorain, OH. It made me wonder how different this city was in 1931. Furthermore, I enjoyed reading your take on Morrison’s short story. It is a very cool concept that she did not clarify which person was African American and which was Caucasian. I have seen videos and TV shows that do something similar – where they have someone talk about themselves but do not show their physical appearance. These really make me think, and it is very interesting to understand how differently we, as humans, perceive people when we see them vs. when we do not know what they look like.
Hi! I really enjoyed your post. It is crazy and makes me very upset that her real-life racial encounters happened here in Ohio but it is very interesting since it is so close to where I am from. The fact that she did not reveal who was what race makes it a little confusing at first but overall I think it was a really good idea to grab the reader’s attention snd make them analyze the situation on a deeper level.
The analysis of Recitatif by Tim Morrison brought me a deeper understanding of the significance and symbolism behind this reading. Reading this analysis aided me in better understanding of the reading before actually reading it. I believe, as it was mentioned, that Morrison purposely avoids stating the race of the characters in order to provide the reader to acknowledge the themes of racial identity and prejudice. This leaves the audience to create their own assumptions of the races. Therefore this enables the readers to evaluate their own perceptions of racial identity, which causes the audience to make assumptions just like assumptions are made everyday about race. Reading this assisted me in digging deeper into how I can sometimes form these stereotypes. I enjoyed diving into this context presentation.
Hi,
This is my first time reading Recitatif and I thought it was very interesting how the author gave so many details about their life but never reviled there true ethnicities. I found it weird that despite that, my mind still searched for which race they were. There are details in the story that make you think you know but then other details that make you question your hypothesis. It really made me question why: 1.) certain details would therefore assign this ethnicity to the character. And 2.) why does it matter what ethnicoty they are? My mind was constantly analyzing details so i could picture the character in my head.
Hello! I enjoyed your context presentation and specifically liked how you emphasized the readers’ desire to “solve” who is white and who is black in the story. It shows how subconsciously it is ingrained in us and makes me self-reflect on stereotypes and racial codes I may encounter. By Morrison leaving out race, she is creating a a story that serves as an example that race can be left out, it doesn’t define a person, a story, etc.
Hi, I enjoyed your post. It is so eye opening to read about how Morrison’s apartment building set their home on fire with them inside simply because the they could not pay rent. This is inhuman and shocking to me that it happened to her at all, especially at such a young age. Morrison’s writing is so intriguing because of the way she hides which of her characters is White and which is Black it allows the reader to not have any preconceived bias against the characters. Since she did this to represent racial binaries and provide the readers with a deep dive into the fact that both these “women” in the story have a shared narrative that provides them a means for a new understanding of their different versions of their history. I am very curious to know if while reading her story people began to look at their life in a different light, and feel more connected to those that “look” different than themself.
I enjoyed reading this post. It was very shocking to learn that their home was set on fire because they could not afford rent and to think about how if the family was white would that have happened. I also believe that Morrison purposefully gave both characters stereotypes from both races in order to keep the reader guessing on which race each character actually was and to show that race isn’t everything.
Hello!
I think it is very interesting and very purposeful in how Toni Morrison chose not to disclose which character is white and which is black. This is such a powerful was to disclose to ourselves our subconscious thought process on the topic. I think reading this short story can reveal prejudices we didn’t even know we had toward either race which can do a great deal in us making correction of these prejudices. Great post!
Hi!
I really enjoyed your post. I chose to visit this week’s blog before reading the stories for the week. You did a wonderful job explaining the story’s outline and gave me a really great outline before reading. I found that the fact that she did not reveal skin color is extremely important. I am assuming that we will be able to tell which person is white and which is black based on the way they are treated. This is a message that we still look at today because of the injustices still occuring in our society. We can tell whether a person is white or black after reading the way their criminal case was treated or the way they were handled by the police. Overall, great job!!
Hello! I enjoyed your context presentation!
Firstly, it is heart-wrenching to learn that Morrison’s apartment building was set on fire because her family couldn’t pay the rent. Secondly, I agree with several of my peers that it is very intriguing that Toni Morrison chose not to reveal the races of the characters in “Recitatif.” This creates a mystery for the reader. When taking the survey and trying to identity which character was black and which character was white, it was difficult to block out all of my preconceived ideas on race. I began to question what truly makes a person white or black besides just the color of their skin. Ultimately, we are all humans and the reader has to make assumptions when determining a character’s race in this story.
Hello!
I enjoyed reading through your context presentation; it was a very well-written analysis of Toni Morrison and her writing style. I’ve read some of her books before, but I never realized that she never disclosed the races of the characters in “Recitatif”. But it did make me think deeper about the characters and their motivations. It makes the story more complex and she has the readers fill in the gaps on their own, which can reveal subconscious prejudices.
Hello,
This is a great presentation. I find it very interesting that she is not explicit on the race of the individuals. I think it is a great way to represent a point that she is trying to make. The reader does not need to know the race of an individual to understand the story. Race does not matter and we are all equal. I think it really helps the reader truly understand the meaning of the story. Again great job.
Hello this was a great context presentation. I find it interesting as well that Toni Morrison did not throw out that face which race these two women were even though you could figure out from the reading. I think by her not making race a main point for these ladies it allow the reader to focus on the story and how it shaped and form your own opinion about each lady and making them an equal.
I liked how Morrison keeps it hidden from the reader which woman is white and which woman is black, which ultimately leads to trying to “solve” and figure out which woman is which. I think it’s also interesting how Maggie displays to the women the differences in how they remember history. This relates to this class, as growing up I read history textbooks, but reading books and short stories from different cultures in this class and other college courses broadens my narrative from those history textbooks. Reading more about history will educate and display the complex history and how different cultures and races have different versions of history.
I really like how you went into more detail about why Morrison wrote this story the way she did. It was pretty confusing to read at first, but not telling us the race of the characters really makes the reader analyze the story on a deeper level, without having previous biases about the race of the characters. Overall great presentation!
Thank you for sharing this presentation! I liked how you mentioned the meaning of the title – recitative in French. The definition of recitative is, as you mentioned, a rhythmically free vocal style that imitates the natural inflections of speech.” I thought it was interesting you mentioned this because this pieces imitates the natural inflections of our thoughts. Since there are not many African America characters in many literature pieces in America, I truthfully assumed Twyla was caucasian. I think a reason I felt this was was because I related to Twyla better with her situation with her mother and assumed her to be the same race I am. I honestly didn’t consider that it was never mentioned until I took the survey after. Since I was simply reading this relating to Twyla and putting myself in Twyla’s shoes, when she mentioned the other race, I assumed Roberta was the other race of Twyla.
Hi, I enjoyed reading your blog! I think you made a great point in the last paragraph when you mentioned how people automatically try and figure out peoples race, just by the description. They have stereotypes about the different races that are built into society now and in the past. It is very sad that people did and still think this way sometimes, but it is an important topic to talk about.
“Recitatif” was an interesting read and I really enjoyed reading your blog post! You mentioned that it’s almost an instinct to try and crack the code of which character, Twyla and Roberta, is which race. I am guilty of trying to crack this code myself based on very little description and context clues. There are so many things that make up stereotypes for each race that have evolved and developed over time. I assumed that Twyla was caucasian and Roberta was Black based on some very subtle hints in the reading, and had not even considered that the races could have been reversed until I took the survey. I really liked how you mentioned the meaning of the title. This piece was written in a way that we were able to understand natural ideas and thoughts that the characters had.
Hi! I enjoyed reading your presentation! I liked how you discussed the author, Toni, and her background as it gives a great representation of who wrote the story, including the motives and basis. Especially how her home burnt down, connecting to the girls in the story living in an orphanage without a physical house to call their own. I also enjoyed how you stated that the author decided to make the two main characters different races, but did not clarify which was which as this allows for the reader to consider perspective and allow their thoughts to wonder. I like how you mentioned how this allows us to look at the “complexities” of their lives, without distinguishing who is who. Throughout the story I thought I had a clear idea, but my thoughts were all over.
I like how you gave the definition of Recitatif and also its english tenslation. I looked a bit further into the definitiona and found that Merriam-Webster pairs that word with recitation. Which is the act of repeating knowledge or stories aloud or to a group. This is very similar to the way Toni Morrison set up her short stories in “Recitatif”. By doing this she can carry her characters through each story and grow them and the stories change. Furthermore, by doing this she could drop what the reader thinks are hints about the characters and who they are but then completely switch them around in the next story.
That is really funny you found out that Morrison was from Lorian because my roomate is from that area. I thought your analysis of the reading was very insightful and that it is very interesting that we try and “solve” what race everyone is in the story
Hello!
This prsentation is amazing, first all the refrences you used are top tier! Second, The way she included race on a deeper level that didnt need to be specific allowed us as reader to connect and have a deeper understanding of the whole idea. It waasnt clear to me until i re read it a few times, but the more i read i understood how history has a way od telling the stroy in very different versions. I agree with the others about Morrison having a unique style of writing ive noticed that in some of her other books.
Hi! Really great presentation! The fact that the author of Recitatif did not tells us exactly which girl was what race which led us to assume shows how much stereotypes and prejudice plays a huge role in our society.
Thank you for your supplementary knowledge of the author and Recitatif, which is conducive to my understanding of the author’s writing techniques. Indeed, when we first read this article, we didn’t know which girl was African American and which girl was white, but as we read further, we had our answer in our hearts. But when we finish reading the complete text, we may have such a reflection. Why is Roberta, who lives a better life, a white, and Twyla an African American? At this time, we may suddenly realize that we are still judging by our previous stereotypes. I think this is the most interesting point of this article.
Hello,
Great job! I learned a lot from your post. I totally agree with you that “it is significant that she chose to focus on five stories throughout their childhood and avoid the discussion of who was black or white to shift the reader’s focus”. In this way, I think readers can focus on the personality of these characters regardless of their skin. If readers know their skin, they probably will have stereotypes which will lead to unfair perception. As you said in your post, readers can also feel that “racial codes that are ingrained in us by society”. So, I think you made a really good post!