...It has been over a century since slavery has ended, but there is still a stigma on race in modern society. A short story titled, "Recitatif" by Toni Morrison exhibits a perennial theme of racism. Initially, both girls acknowledged the other was a different race and accepted each other, despite their differences. As Twyla and Roberta grow up, the reader is able to see that the racial tension between both girls was strong enough to divide their friendship as adults. Racial stereotyping is subconsciously rooted in every individual, whether people realize it or not. It is woven in a person's perception that affects how a person interacts and reacts in his or her daily life. Morrison deliberately keeps the races of the characters equivocal to...
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...Societies’ Corruption Within the short stories “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison and “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” by Karen Russell, the writers focus on the theme of societies’ corruption upon young, developing girls. The authors choose to center their stories on two groups of girls that are changed by their experiences as they mature in and outside group homes. In both stories the diverse group of girls are placed into homes by their parents for entirely different reasons. Despite these reasons the two girls in the story “Recitatif” grow closer while in the home, but the family of werewolf girls, in the story “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves,” grow further apart after they learn the ways of humans. As the girls are influenced by society they grow further apart due to the naturally selfish state of the world and the constant strife between the many cultures that it contains. All of the girls start out pure and untouched by the world and its flaws, but as they are taught to conform to societies expectations they become uncaring towards one another. The main characters of the two stories, Twyla and Claudette, are both placed into group homes by their families for the girl’s betterment. In “Recitatif” Twyla states that she and her friend were taken to St. Bonny’s home because her “… mother danced all night and Roberta’s was sick” (Morrison 201). The two girls bonded over their mother’s mental and physical illnesses, but the relationship between the Caucasian...
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...A fascinating and powerful narrative, “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison, tells the story of two girls, Twyla and Roberta, who share quite a complicated relationship. From the time they meet at St. Bonaventure, an orphanage, at the tender age of eight to when they become adults and start leading lives of their own, they are plagued by their racial, social, and economical differences. One of the most interesting aspects of the short story is the symbolism of Maggie, a disabled woman who works at the orphanage, and the tremendous impact she has on Twyla and Roberta. Numerous critics have analyzed the portrayal of Maggie in the story, and have come to some varied conclusions. In my opinion, as Twyla and Roberta are reunited with one another through the course of their lives, they slowly begin to see and accept that Maggie is a reflection of their mothers, and – to a larger extent – also themselves. The issues explored in “Recitatif” resonate with many readers on many different levels and, in effect, much has been written and discussed about it. This is largely due to the fact that Morrison has left a lot open to the reader for interpretation. “Revised Memories and Colliding Identities: Absence and Presence in Morrison’s ‘Recitatif’ and Viramontes’s ‘Tears on My Pillow’” by Helane Adams Androne is a very focused critical piece that argues that both central characters have suffer from strained relationships. "Transfiguring Aesthetics: Conflation, Identity Denial, and Transference in “Passing...
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...blurring of the once distinct boundaries between the male and female worlds. This intersection of the sexes had two effects: first, because women were no longer confined to domestic work, they had less incentives to remain in dominantly female circles; second, because women could operate in the male world as individuals, they had to learn to mirror male patterns of dominance or portray the traditional role of women. These combined effects resulted in the breakdown of sisterhood as women distanced themselves from female bonds in order to gain power in the male world. This fall of sisterhood is evident in literature, which I will convey through an analysis of three selections: A Streetcar Named Desire, a play by Tennessee Williams; “Recitatif,” a short story by Toni Morrison; and “Everyday Use,” a short story by Alice Walker. First, I will...
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...Yvette Bostic Robley Welliver Lit 205/11 September 9, 2013 In order for one to understand Twyla’s characteristic of being slightly prejudice and the secret hate that she had toward her childhood friend has to do with the concepts and thoughts that Twyla’s mother in stored in her as a child about other people who were not like her and a lot of those concept where wrong. Twyla’s roommate Roberta did not meet any of the negative things Twyla’s mother had told her about Africa American people. Twyla thought she deserved better and was supposed to have better because she was white. She secretly had had toward Roberta because she ended up with the life Twyla was supposed to have, but because of the bond they had growing up would somehow keep them connected every time they ran into each other in passing. In the beginning of the story Twyla had a negative attitude toward African American people. Twyla’s mother had warned her as a little girl that “they never washed their hair and they smelled funny” (Morrison, Toni) this gives you an indication that Twyla was white and was raised by a prejudice white mother whom which at times she seemed to be ashamed of. The first time Twyla and Roberta was introduced Twyla seemed to be uncomfortable. She told Bozo “my mother won’t like you putting me in here” (Morrison, Toni) but as time went on it did not seem to bother Twyla much, Twyla and Roberta became best friends in the orphan home, they were always together and the played together...
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...White or Black? A not so silent part of society at the time, racism is the main theme in Toni Morrison’s short story, “Recitatif”. The story is a recollection of the memory of a friendship effected by many factors, but mainly influenced by race. Although the races are ambiguous to the reader, the main characters Twyla and Roberta deal with an increasingly strained friendship until the two eventually reconcile at an older age. Through the use of first person narration, Morrison presents the issue of race and racism in a controlled, but effective perspective. Twyla’s first person narration is the only view of events we see and in turn becomes our own view. From the beginning of the story when Twyla and Roberta meet we get the sense that there is already a great divide between them, “It was one thing to be taken out of your own bed early in the morning-it was something else to be stuck in a strange place with a girl from a whole other race” (139). We never find out what race Twyla or Roberta is, but this initial introduction shows that at least Twyla is uncomfortable being around Roberta. Is it really important that we know which race is which? Many people, myself included, read this over many times looking for clues that would indicate Twyla and or Roberta’s race. However, the only conclusion I reach is that it is unimportant whether or not we know. The fact that the friendship is interracial is enough to convey the theme. In fact, by not specifying either race it makes the...
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...Using Facebook to Teach Rhetorical Analysis Jane Mathison Fife The attraction of Facebook is a puzzle to many people over the age of thirtyfive, and that includes most college faculty. Yet students confess to spending significant amounts of time on Facebook, sometimes hours a day. If you teach in a computer classroom, you have probably observed students using Facebook when you walk in the room. Literacy practices that fall outside the realm of traditional academic writing, like Facebook, can easily be seen as a threat to print literacy by teachers, especially when they sneak into the classroom uninvited as students check their Facebook profiles instead of participating in class discussions and activities. This common reaction reflects James King and David O’Brien’s (2002: 42) characterization of the dichotomy teachers often perceive between school and nonschool literacy activities (although they are not referring to Facebook specifically): “From teachers’ perspectives, all of these presumably pleasurable experiences with multimedia detract from students’ engagement with their real work. Within the classroom economy technology work is time off task; it is classified as a sort of leisure recreational activity.” This dichotomy can be broken down, though; students’ enthusiasm for and immersion in these nonacademic literacies can be used to complement their learning of critical inquiry and traditional academic concepts like rhetorical analysis. Although they read these texts daily...
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