Reading Response to: Recitatif - Toni Morrison

born: 1931

Toni Morrison

This story about two girls that grew up in an orphanage.  Both girls of a different race.  The author gives us clues about each character, however does not reveal which is white, or black.  She helps us to see that we are all human beings and makes us wonder why race even matters.

The characters names: Roberta and Twyla don't give us a clue to their race.  Either of these names could be a white woman or black woman.  She also gives us descriptions of the lives that each character came from. There were some stereotypical things that suggest that one could be black like the fact that during the sixties a mother dancing as a profession seems to be a white woman, in the sixties.  But then again, I can't say for certain because there were professional dancers like Josephine Baker performing in the 1920's.  Another stereotype was that Roberta's mother is described as a large woman towering like a giant that brought a home cooked meal of fried chicken for a lunch visit at the orphanage.  Fried chicken is a stereotype meal that has been attached to black families for years.  It does lead me to believe that Roberta is black.  Twyla's mother is described as wearing tight green pants with a big protruding posterior that also leads me to believe that Twyla is also black.

This story is very elusive to giving us definitive answer to the all the images of our imagination as to which girl is white and which girl is black.  I think the author does this purposely to make the reader focus their attention on the characters' identity and how they react to each other and the society they are living in during the sixties.  All people live human lives and why does it matter what their race is.  All people have different views about things and how they evolve and effect our lives.