Character Analysis Of Tony Morrison's 'Recitatif'

The plot of a story can either make or break how a person perceives a story. If the plot is boring and straight to the point, then the reader might be uninterested in the story, but if the plot is eventful and lots of interesting things happen, then the reader will more likely be drawn to the story. The plot has many parts that make up a story. They each have a role in helping us understand the story a little bit more and let us know what happens at certain parts. “Recitatif” is a story about a two girls who live together in an orphanage as children, then grow up separately with their own lives, and as they get older they come in contact with one another throughout different periods of their adulthood. And in the story, Tony Morrison, the author, has a scattered plot where we are able to see the changes that Twyla and Roberta experience throughout different parts of their life from race problems they face and their issues and memories from the orphanage.

The exposition is always at the beginning of the story and during this section we learned about the two main characters, Twyla and Roberta. The two girls are live in an orphanage called, St. Bonny’s when they first meet each other, and develop a strong friendship. Both their mothers dropped them off there because they weren’t fit to raise them. Twyla’s mother “danced all night’’ (par. 1), and Roberta’s mother was sick. At first, Twyla was skeptical about Roberta because she was “stuck in a strange place with a girl from a whole other race” (Par. 2). Although we don’t know the race of both girls, we do know that one girl is black and one girl is white. In the orphanage, Twyla and Roberta stick together through all the tough times and face them together. Whether that’s dealing with...

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...ence we know what is happening in their lives and where they are with each other and their friendship. It’s important for that because their relationship is a key component in the story.

The way Toni Morrison wrote “Recitatif”’ plot makes us question at every point when Twyla and Roberta meet whether or not she kicked Maggie. At the beginning of the story it seems as though she didn’t do it but just looked and laughed as she fell. But throughout each section of the story and every time the girls meet up it makes us question if she kicked Maggie because Roberta is so strong in her argument that she did. Another key point Morrison made is not telling us about the race of the girls. This is crucial because we have to make our own judgments based on what we think. It makes us wonder because she gives clues at certain points but never directly says.