Gangadaye Seema Ragbir

Professor Racquel Corona

English 102    

19 September 2014

Recitatif by Toni Morrison

Question 1.  From the clues provided by the narrator, how do you figure out the race and class backgrounds of the two main characters, Twyla and Roberta?  Why do you think Toni Morrison presents this in the way she does?

 

In this story Recitatif, the main characters Twyla and Roberta were two different races.  To my understanding, Twyla was black and Roberta was white. Twyla, also the narrator in the story, gives proof that they were black and white by stating “we looked like salt and pepper standing there”.  Twyla made a statement after Mrs. Itkin put Roberta and her together in the same room at St. Bonny’s, “my mother won’t like you to putting me here”, which shows blacks and whites were not equal and could not stay in the same room together. Further in the story, the class background of Twyla and Roberta was shown. After about twenty eight days at St. Bonny’s, the mothers of Twyla and Roberta came to visit them at church.  The both girls went in separate directions to meet their mothers. When Roberta saw Twyla, she brought her mother over to meet her friend and roommate Twyla and her mother Mary. After an introduction by Roberta, Mary smiled and struggled to pull her hand out of her thorn jacket pocket to shake Roberta’s mother’s hand. But all Roberta’s mother did was looked down at Twyla and Mary, took Roberta’s hand and walked out. This scene shows that Roberta came from a more high class society and also since they were white and in that time frame the story was set, white people was always superior. The reaction that Roberta’s mother gave Mary and Twyla came from scorn, since Twyla mentioned in the beginning of the story that Mary danced all night. From the makeup and clothes that Mary was wearing, Roberta’s mother judged her in an unethical way and since Mary was black, it was easier for Roberta’s mother to justify the scorn of Twyla and Mary. The food that the mother’s brought for their children also showed some class background. Roberta’s mother brought chicken, ham sandwiches and milk in a thermos, whereas Mary brought nothing for Twyla, who eat the stepped on jelly beans that fell down on the floor. Roberta’s mother read the bible. Most white people had the opportunity to read and get and education.  The writer Toni Morrison, wrote this story Recitatif with not too much words giving away the races of the Twyla and Roberta but uses big hints, by mention of “Jimi Hendrix”, and by mention if the words “ racial striff”. This creates a scene for the reader within a period of time.