The Theme Of Materialism In Toni Morrison's 'Recitatif'

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Recitatif was written by Toni Morrison, which is a profound narrative, which I believe was meant to invite and let readers wondering to search for a buried connotation of the experiences that the main characters, which are Twyla and Roberta are face as children, and as their reunited again as adults, which some of the story’s meaning and values involving around race, friendship and the abandonment began to emerge as the plot thickens, and more messages became hidden and remain unrecognized even until the last sentence of the story. In the story from the very first paragraph, there were several details that wasn’t mentioned, that required further deeper thought and that made the story very appealing for me. First, from the beginning …show more content…

She enhances her theme through the manipulation of plot and the use of women as her central character. Morrison proves the notion that women are effective character in depicting theme that deal with the social issue of craving material wealth. Also the role of the social class in the story is the issue of class separation and struggle, though they may appear at first glance to be unimportant, but they are in fact the central points around which the story revolves. Class differences affect the ways in which the characters interact with one another. Nowhere in the story "Recitatif" is this more apparent than in the meeting between Roberta and Twyla's mothers at the orphanage. Twyla describes Roberta's mother as tall, prim, and proper. She adds, "and on her chest was the biggest cross I'd ever seen" (pp. 999). In direct contrast to this is the image of Twyla's mother, a woman who wears revealing pants and a ragged old jacket and curses in church. The authors successfully communicate to the readers their belief that, no matter how hard we might try to avoid it, class is indeed a major factor in today's