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The Importance Of Friendship In Recitatif By Toni Morrison

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Friendship can be a key element or theme to a work of literature. Friendships can be expressed in different ways throughout their story. Most stories express friendships as a high and low in one’s life. A friendship can be strained or broken because of outside forces, such as political views that are occurring in the story’s plot. “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison shows that one’s race can put a strain on one’s friendship. In “Recitatif” , the narrator Twyla talks about her past. It is important that she is narrating the story because she thinks back at her time at St. Bony’s, an orphanage she and her friend Roberta had to stay at. She remembers when she first met Roberta and remembers how her mother would not like her being in the same room as her. Twyla refers to herself and Roberta as ‘salt and pepper’, telling the reader that they are both different races. At first, Twyla is not too keen on being roommates with Roberta, but as Twyla 's memory went on it showed the girls had more in common that she thought. Both girls were eight years old, they were not very good in school, and their mothers were still alive. This is what separated them from all the other girls …show more content…

Racial strife as the paper called it was occurring. Mother’s were protesting because their children were going to be sent out to different schools. Roberta was one of the many mothers protesting. Twyla asks her what she is doing and in response the two begin to feud on their different opinions on this matter. Roberta then accuses Twyla and herself in taking part of bullying Maggie. Also stating Maggie is black, which Twyla has no recollection of either. In their last and final encounter, years past some more Twyla and Roberta meet up once again at a diner. Roberta apologises to Twyla for things she said and about Maggie. In this moment both girls confess their memories are not as reliable as they thought it

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However, the two become friends after a short period of time, and remain so until Roberta has to go back home to her mother (Morrison, 1983). After their stay in St. Bonny’s, Twyla and Roberta do not see each other until they are much older, when Twyla is working at a Howard Johnson’s. Twyla tries to have a conversation, but Roberta rudely brushes her off, seemingly for no reason. Twyla is confused because she believed that they were friends, and had done nothing to make Roberta dislike her (Morrison, 1983). Roberta brushed Twyla off because she did not want the guys she was with to see her being friendly towards her.

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