Introduction
Toni Morrison an American novelist who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize for being a winner. She became popular for her novels that have epic themes as well as greatly detailed characters. Tony Morrison has only published “Recitatif”- a short story exploring the way the relationship between Roberta and Twyla is shaped due to their racial difference. The author did not specify which of these girls is white or black (Li-li 812).
It is, therefore, important to de-code the racial identity that each of these characters has in order to find out how each race is characterized in the society as well as revealing the reconstruction of black female with the feminist movement within a male and white dominated society. In order to explore the racial identity of these two main characters, it is important to analyze the political, economic, and culture signs in the United States that is kept secret in the story.
In her novel “Recitatif”, Morrison has extensively explained the roles and experiences of black women in a society full of racism and dominated by male. Apart from revealing the suffering that resulted from racial segregation and discrimination to the African-American women, the author also elaborated their disturbed psychological emotions due to whitely dominated society (Li-li 812).
In “Recitatif”, Twyla narrates about the relationship between her and Roberta (eight-year-old girl of the same age) over a long period of time. Twyla’s mother likes dancing the whole night while Roberta’s mother was sick. An important event in this story revolves around a woman called Maggie. Maggie is disabled working at St. Bonny’s – orphanage for girls, and for other abandoned girls like Roberta and Twyla yet have their mothers alive. It is said that Maggie walks in a funny way because of her bowed legs that resemble “parentheses”, and she was short just as an eight-year old (Cates n. page).
However, the Twyla and Roberta grew up to become very good friends even though they undergo unpleasant situation in their life in which their mothers become problematic and also because they came from two different races. In addition, the two friends also faced very serious moments whereby they both watch older girls mistreating Maggie. Later, Twyla and Roberta meet accidentally four times after a long period of separation. The relationship between them has always been shaped based on their racial differences even though Morrison did not specify who among them is black or white. However, their racial identities can be de-coded as explained below (Cetinkaya 1).
The African American culture, which is an American culture, has contributed a lot to the African ethnic groups in the United States. It has a unique identity that originates from the historical experiences undergone by the African American people. Twyla begins her narrative by recalling the time she was placed in St. Bonventure (home for neglected children) while still eight-years-old, and the reaction she experienced towards Roberta her roommate. From this reaction, Twyla despised the funny smell of Roberta’s hair, which is said to be never washed before. This means that Roberta might be an African American because of her hair that is believed to be difficult to wash since it is coiled curls that are tight. This scenario displays the racial discrimination that the whites had towards the African American (black people). Twyla’s expression that says, “Smell funny” shows her first impression towards the black girl, Roberta. Twyla pointed out that she would not be allowed to live in one room with Roberta because of their racial differences whereby one is white and the other black, even though not mentioned in the story (Morrison 1).
Through the entire story, Morrison’s description of the two girls together with their mothers can help to identify their races. During the Easter’s visitation by the girls’ mothers, Twyla gave the description of what her mother was wearing, and she despised her clothes because they were ugly and like sacks (Morrison 4). On the other hand, she describes Roberta’s mother as being very big in body size and also the chest. This description indicates the stereotype that is being associated with black women that are strong in stature. After a very long time when the girls had become adults, they met again at Howard, whereby Twyla was serving as a waitress, and she describes Roberta as having wild and big hair together with two guys each with facial hair and smothered head. It is important to note that hair here expresses the heritage and culture, especially to the African American since blacks have embraced different kinds of hairstyles (Morrison 6).
After twelve years, the two friends once again met in an emporium at Howard Johnson; Twyla is married to a fireman and they have one child and earn a small income, and, on the other hand, Roberta is married to an IBM executive, and they live a comfortable life. As a result of this, Twyla made conclusion with some racial resentment that Roberta and her family behaves as if they own the whole world, and that everything to them seems to be easy. Later, these two women find themselves acting on the opposing sides, and they differ in many things because of their racial differences.
The story forces us to build racial categories using social cues, thus exposes and elicits the racial codes that are unarticulated. Morrison mentioned that Maggie’s legs are bowed, and the color of her skin is sandy. The two girls despise Maggie because she is the reminder of their problematic mothers. Maggie is black to Roberta but to Twyla she is not black. At the beginning of the story, readers may think that she is black, and this belief gives her value to them. Maggie is referred to as an outcast and ugly, and she is just treated as a foil by Twyla and Roberta. According to both Twyla and Roberta, Maggie is a character that nobody can care about for she is more isolated than them. To them, they believe that Maggie deserves to suffer their cruelty and insults for being the odd one out. She is despised to the point that whenever the two girls are desperate, they can do mob psychology on her. It is said that even a weak person can feel strong in the presence of Maggie. The girls indeed intend to deprive Maggie her humanity whenever they step on her into another level of being (Li-li 815).
Conclusion
The theme of racial discrimination is clearly portrayed in this scenario, in which the African Americans are discriminated against by the whites, who treat them as inferior people. These are some of the challenges the African Americans underwent in the United States of America.
Works Cited
Cates, Ray. All About Maggie, and Memories, Concerning the short story “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison, Analysis by Ray Cates. American Lit Writing, 2011. Web. 9 February 2014.
Cetinkaya, Cagdas. Analysis of Recitatif by Tony Morrison in terms of Double Consciousness. Academia.edu, n. d. web. 9 February 2014. <http://www.academia.edu/1781530/Analysis_of_Recitatif_by_Toni_Morrison_in_terms_of_Double_Consciousness>.
Li-li, WANG. Decoding Racial Identity of the Characters in “Recitatif”. US-China Foreign Language 9.12: 812-816. Print.
Morrison, T. Recitatif. George Mason University, n.d. Web. 9 February 2014. <http://linksprogram.gmu.edu/tutorcorner/NCLC495Readings/Morrison_recitatifessay.doc.pdf>.
