Recitatif By Toni Morrison

1335 Words3 Pages

A critical issue that Toni Morrison emphasizes in “Recitatif” is the presence of racial stereotypes within society today. Morrison plays with the reader’s self concious effort to categorize each of the characters within the story by withholding the race of each character. Because people tend to work off racial fashions, the readers will make latent conclusions about the people in the story. Morrison yearns for the reader to make conclusions about the race of Twyla and Roberta by attributing questionable traits to both characters. Morrison utilizes the generalized stereotypes associated with class and wealth when describing Twyla and Roberta. In addition, Morrison uses the attitude of Roberta and Twyla towards each other and racial issues to demonstrate racial classification (Bennett). Toni Morrison withholds the racial identities of the characters to construct the idea that racial conclusions are based single-handedly on culturally constructed stereotypes.

In “Recitatif”, Morrison blinds the audience of the racial identity of each individual in the story. In doing so, the only information she gives the reader is that Twyla and Roberta not of the same race when Twyla states that her and Roberta, “looked like salt and pepper ..” (Morrison). Twyla even said that she was “to be stuck in a strange place with a girl from a whole other race” and then expressed that her mother wouldn’t like her being placed with Roberta (Morrison). Throughout the story, Morrison never reveals the race of each of the girls, rather she describes them in a way that the reader self consciously decides the color of each of the girls skin. One would use the names of the characters to assume the race of both of the individuals. In today’s generation, it is assu...

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...entities of the characters and strategically sets each of their lives with specific stereotypical details to force the audience into making a conclusion on their race. In addition, Morrison plays with the typical generalizations associated with names, wealth and political views to confuse the reader about the identity of each character. In the end of the story, the reader is still questioning the racial identity of Twyla and Roberta with the use of the character Maggie when Roberta states , “Oh shit, Twyla. Shit, shit,shit. What the hell happened to Maggie” (Morrison). Placing this statement as the final words of the story desolates the conclusions the audience has made about the racial identification of each character. Morrison uses Recitatif to make evident that ones generalizations of another is manufactured from culturally constructed racial stereotypes.

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