Recitatif Essay Thesis

In Recitatif by Toni Morrison, two girls, Roberta and Twyla, grow a bond with each other while in an orphanage called St. Bonny’s. They did not really fit in with the other girls, which gave them a reason to stick together. The other girls were orphans, but Roberta had a mom that was very sick and unable to take care of her and Twyla’s mother “danced” all the time and could not provide for Twyla. The two of them got bullied by the bigger girls, aka the “gar girls.” They would push them around and laugh at them, which did not seem to be a big deal at the time. Despite this obviously negative interaction, much like stereotypical bullies and their victims, there is evidence that these girls had a lasting influence on Twyla and Roberta. This begs

A few years later, Twyla and Roberta ran into each other at a cafe called Howard Johnson’s. Twyla is working there and she sees Roberta walk in. When Twyla comes to approach her, Roberta is a bit standoffish and she does not seem a bit excited to see her. Twyla seems to be hurt by this interaction and is not sure how to act. This shows that it was not likely for Roberta to act this way and something influenced her to believe that this was okay. When Twyla first sees Roberta, she thinks to herself, “she made the big girls look like nuns” (Morrison 6). This portrays the fact that Roberta is taking on the role of one of the girl girls, being mean and looking like them. They run into each other again at a grocery store and reminisce on some of their memories at St. Bonny’s. Twyla brings up Maggie, who worked in the kitchen at St. Bonny’s. She thought that Maggie used to always fall over, but Roberta remembers things quite

After Roberta says this, Twyla does not stop thinking about it and it makes her wonder if the girl was really that mean. As time goes on, Roberta and Twyla run into each other once again. This time, they are both protesting about having to send their kids to a new school. Things get a little intense between the two of them and after a small argument, Twyla reaches out for Roberta when she is scared. Twyla thought that Roberta would take her hand and help her feel safe like they used to do when they were younger, but instead, “Roberta was looking at me swaying from side to side in the car and her face was still” (Morrison 15). Roberta felt no sympathy towards Twyla and it is evident that the gar girls had this impact on her when they pushed the two girls down and never helped them back up. The gar girls never showed sympathy towards anyone, which put the thought in Roberta’s mind that she does not have to show sympathy towards Twyla if she does not want to. This protesting carries on and the argument between Twyla and Roberta seems to get worse and worse. Maggie gets brought up again and Roberta changes the story from the gar girls pushing her to Twyla kicking