Recitatif and The Scar are stories of children and their experiences when dealing with issues of mental and physical violence. These stories present these problems in different situations. Violence in Recitatif and The Scar is represented by the ideas of traumatizing childhood events, and how those events and people in the child’s life effect their well-being. Recitatif and The Scar similarly demonstrate violence in the characters’ childhood that effect their overall happiness. In Recitatif, Twyla and Roberta’s memories are violent-related and are critical to their youth. They witnessed verbal and physical abuse starting from a young age, just like An-Mei did in The Scar. As Twyla and Roberta recall the time that the older girls at St. Bonny’s orphanage pushed Maggie to the ground, they had feelings of fear and guilt. This occurrence haunts both Twyla and Roberta into their adult years. They were forced to deal with violence when they were children with little to no support from loved ones. An-Mei also had this feeling in The Scar. Twyla and Roberta decided to block out violent memories, which made it even harder to understand and deal with. All these dire events that occurred in both Twyla, Roberta, and …show more content…
Recitatif and The Scar have mental violence or abuse that changes the child’s mindset, like An-Mei being told the scary stories and the cruel phrases the older girls would say around Twyla and Roberta. Physical violence is also present in both stories. Some examples of physical violence in The Scar are An-Mei’s burn, her mother’s sacrifice, and her aunt’s constant harassment. Similar to events in The Scar, there was constant harassment in Recitatif through the mistreatment of Maggie and when she was shoved to the ground. With all this violence in someone’s life, it would be challenging, especially as a fragile child, to stay happy with yourself and your