Toni Morrison’s Recitatif is a short story that challenges readers understanding of racial stereotypes through two characters, Roberta and Twyla, of different races that are only alluded to through different stereotypes. The racial ambiguity of the kitchen woman from their childhood orphanage, Maggie, is the focus of the end of the short story as a conflict between the two characters not being able to remember her race. Maggie’s race is not the only cause for disagreement between the girls, it also sets up an important parallel between the characters in the story and the audience reading it. Maggie’s possible abuse is portrayed as being called childish names but it’s actually surrounded by a much more tragic, personal, and meaningful reasons …show more content…
The offhand description of Maggie states, “The kitchen women with legs like parentheses”, “old and sandy-colored”, and “she rocked when she walked” and all of them are important (1404). Maggie's race is the center of deep confusion later in the story, because neither girl can actually recall what race she was despite that being used as evidence in a an argument that they are present for. The girls not being able to remember what Maggie’s race is draws a parallel with the audience, because much like how they can not remember her race, the audience does not know the race of the girls. Much like how it's up to the audience to determine the girl’s race, the idea, “race lies not in the skin of the subject but in the eye of the observer” lines up with Maggie quite well (Hardy). The fact that neither girl can fully remember Maggie’s race plays well into the idea that the girls also can’t fully remember if they physically abused …show more content…
According to Twyla all the girls did was call her “dummy” and “bow legs” because they thought she couldn’t hear while according to Roberta Twyla kicked Maggie “when she was down on the ground” as well (1405). Twyla disagrees with that statement and later Roberta admits that it was the gar girls but what's more important is that both girls actually wanted them to kick her because they both identified her as their mothers. According to Sarah Madsen Hardy its, “Through the ambiguous figure of Maggie both women find a way to unlock their ambivalent feelings toward their own mothers.” Both girls wanting Maggie to be kicked underlines how Maggie is so important, that she’s the one both girls identify their mothers with for different reasons and both have repressed memories about her because of the unwarranted hostility they held towards her even if they never acted on those ideas. The repressed hostility that had towards their mothers leaks into Maggie and causes them to repress other aspects of her and how they treated
In “Recitatif,” by Toni Morrison, racial divides are implemented throughout the story due to circumstance and place. The setting or other characters involved in the story or the actions they take often closely relate to how the two girls feel towards one another. Throughout their lives, Twyla and Roberta vary on whether or not they should be friends with one another due to racial divides, although it is not ever explicitly stated.
Maggie, although not the main focus of Recitatif, plays an extremely important role in the sense that she represents the idea that there is more to a person’s identity as well as oppression than just their race.
Humans are born, but people are made. Entering the world with minds shapeless and pure, the world is the sculptor that perverts the conscience and hardens the heart. Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif” deals with just that—who we are and who we are told to be. Though the actual races of the two main characters, Twyla and Roberta, are left completely unknown, they are all but ignored. The story simmers with the wounds of stereotyping, racism, and socioeconomic divide. Morrison’s exclusion of Twyla and Roberta’s races brings forth the learned status of racism within the world of the story and the reality of the reader’s conscience.
In Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif” Twyla’s mother Marry had no problem expressing her sexuality because she was a stripper, who danced all night, she wore a fur jack and green slacks to a chapel to meet her daughter Twyla. Her clothing was inappropriate especially to Roberta’s mother who was symbolic of God. Roberta’...
Both mothers compare their two daughters to each other. In Everyday Use the mother tells us that "Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure." She Fahning -2-speaks of the fire that burned and scarred Maggie. She tells us how Maggie is not bright, how she shuffles when she walks. Comparing her with Dee whose feet vwere always neat-looking, as if God himself had shaped them." We also learn of Dee's "style" and the way she awes the other girls at school with it.
When we meet our narrator, the mother of Maggie and Dee, she is waiting in the yard with Maggie for Dee to visit. The mother takes simple pleasure in such a pleasant place where, "anyone can come back and look up at the elm tree and wait for the breezes that never come inside the house." (Walker 383) This is her basic attitude, the simple everyday pleasures that have nothing to do with great ideas, cultural heritage or family or racial histories. She later reveals to us that she is even more the rough rural woman since she, "can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man." (Walker 383) Hardly a woman one would expect to have much patience with hanging historical quilts on a wall. Daughter Maggie is very much the opposite of her older sister, Dee. Maggie is portrayed as knowing "she is not bright." (Walker 384)
With all the different types of literature we have in our world we also have a similar amount of interpretations of those pieces of literature. Each interpretation is as valid as another. Literature not only allows the writer to create a wonderful world and a story, it allows the reader to fully embrace the story and find meaning out of it. There are also many different types of literary criticisms. These criticisms are vehicles or guidelines for us to use to understand the reading in a very specific matter and really pinpoint the issues and overall theme of the story. This brings us to the Toni Morrison short story “Recitatif”. This short story encourages an African American or ethic criticism style of understanding it. The driving
In this story, Maggie is a lot like her mother. They both are uneducated, loving, caring, and allow Dee to run over them. Maggie has been through more things than her mother has though, because of the incident that happened. Maggie has scars like Emily, except Maggie’s scars are from a house fire (319). The house fire has impacted Maggie’s life tremendously, since she is very self-conscious and shy. Walker stated that Maggie is “ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs (318). The mother is protective of Maggie and will be there for her whenever she needs her too. Even though her mother knows all her struggles, she still supports her and pushes her to be better. I think that is one reason she pushes her to marry John Thomas, because she wants her to become her own person and to be strong (319). The mother of “Everyday Use” is opposite from the mother in “I Stand Here Ironing”, because she is there for her children no matter what their financial status
The Civil Rights Movement marked a crucial moment in United States history. African Americans fought for their right to be treated equally and to put an end to discrimination and segregation. Toni Morrison’s short story “Recitatif” features two girls of the opposite race and how their friendship was affected during this time period. The United States has come a long way since the days of slavery, but African Americans’ rights were still not being fully recognized. As a result of this the Civil Rights Movement developed to peacefully protest for equality. Toni Morrison’s short story, “Recitatif”, takes place during the Civil Rights era of the United States to show the reader how stereotyping, discrimination, and segregation affected two girls,
In the story “Recitatif” author Toni Morrison, published in 1983, tells a story of two young girls, Twyla and Roberta, with two different ethnicities, who grow up in an orphanage together. Due to the fact that the story is narrated by Twyla, it seems natural for us the readers to associate with this touching story, as many of us have encounter racial discrimination back in the 1980s, making it clear that Morrison states the two girls grow up to always remember each based on the similarities and the childhood they both encounter together, come from different ethnic backgrounds, and as the story reveals, destiny is determined to bring the girls’ path together.
The main point/thesis of this essay is that Canadians can be selling water as a export and make a profit instead of just letting it sit in lakes and rivers. Morrison uses metaphors a one rhetorical technique to persuade the audience, some of the metaphors that he uses are “dog-in-the-manger”(Morrison, 459) and “liquid wealth”(Morrison 462). These metaphors strengthen his essay as they make strong comparisons using other words. Morrison uses facts with actual numbers, making it clearer to reader how big this problem is, which overall makes a stronger essay. Personification is another tool that this author uses to make a strong, persuasive argument, some examples are “the very blood in the veins of Mother Earth”(Morrison, 460) and “”(). Also,
In the story, “Recitatif,” Toni Morrison uses vague signs and traits to create Roberta and Twyla’s racial identity to show how the characters relationship is shaped by their racial difference. Morrison wants the reader’s to face their racial preconceptions and stereotypical assumptions. Racial identity in “Recitatif,” is most clear through the author’s use of traits that are linked to vague stereotypes, views on racial tension, intelligence, or ones physical appearance. Toni Morrison provides specific social and historical descriptions of the two girls to make readers question the way that stereotypes affect our understanding of a character. The uncertainties about racial identity of the characters causes the reader to become pre-occupied with assigning a race to a specific character based merely upon the associations and stereotypes that the reader creates based on the clues given by Morrison throughout the story. Morrison accomplishes this through the relationship between Twyla and Roberta, the role of Maggie, and questioning race and racial stereotypes of the characters. Throughout the story, Roberta and Twyla meet throughout five distinct moments that shapes their friendship by racial differences.
Racism and sexism are both themes that are developed throughout the novel Sula, by Toni Morrison. The book is based around the black community of "The Bottom," which itself was established on a racist act. Later the characters in this town become racist as well. This internalized racism that develops may well be a survival tactic developed by the people over years, which still exists even at the end of the novel. The two main characters of this novel are Nel Wright and Sula Peace. They are both female characters and are often disadvantaged due to their gender. Nel and Sula are depicted as complete opposites that come together to almost complete one another through their once balanced friendship. Nel is shown to be a good character because she plays a socially acceptable role as a woman, submissive wife and mother, while Sula conforms to no social stereotypes and lets almost nothing hold her back, thus she is viewed as evil by the people in her community. Both women are judged by how well they fit into the preconceived social conventions and stereotypes that exist in "the Bottom."
... It should be understood that Morrison's novel is filled with many characters and many examples of racism and sexism and the foundations for such beliefs in the black community. Every character is the victim or aggressor of racism or sexism in all its forms. Morrison succeeds in shedding light on the racism and sexism the black community had to endure on top of racism and sexism outside of the community. She shows that racism and sexism affect everyone's preconceived notions regarding race and gender and how powerful and prevalent the notions are.
Roberta and Twyla, two young girls from the story Recitatif, written by Toni Morrison, meet for the first time at a state home for orphan and foster children. Early in the story, the narrator, Twyla, tells the reader that Roberta is a different race than she, “it was something else to be stuck in a strange place with a girl from a whole other race.” (201) Twyla’s description of Roberta leads the reader to form a conclusion that one of the girls is black and the other one is white. As the development of each character proceeds, many of the traits the girls have could be either white or black. The real contrast between Twyla and Roberta is their behavior and personalities. The reader will initially probably classify the girls’ race from Twyla’s