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Twyla And Roberta In Recitatif By Toni Morrison

556 Words3 Pages

“Recitatif”, among other things means recital. The characters of Toni Morrison’s short story have a connection with hidden mysteries and subtle qualities that contribute to the significance of the text. At the end of “Recitatif”, Twyla and Roberta explore the “truth” of what they had seen at St. Bonny’s many years earlier. The two main characters of the story discuss Maggie and the types of events that occurred at the orphanage. Based on the text, the reader can understand that Twyla and Roberta’s conversation was an honest confrontation. However, the story never explicitly states who out of the two is colored. Neither Twyla nor Roberta are reliable as their opinions constantly change based on what happens throughout the story. For instance, at the end of the story Roberta states, “What the hell happened to Maggie?” (Morrison, page 214) The constant switch …show more content…

Subtle hints have been provided, allowing the reader to make assumptions. I personally began to make assumptions when Twyla's mother insisted, “...they never wash their hair and they smell(ed) funny.” (Morrison, page 201) Throughout the story, I continued to expand my thoughts on the two main characters to help in understanding the point of the story. The main theme being racial identity, community and prejudice. The audience sees that Roberta is of higher class in her later years while Twyla is of lower class. Morrison’s choice to withhold information about the character's’ race and class helps contribute to the essence of the story. It is apparent that this story was written based on times of segregation and racial inequality. This can be proven through the following statement made by Roberta, “Oh Twyla, you know how it was in those days: black-white. You know how everything was.” (Morrison, page 209) In doing so, Morrison offers mysterious context that serves as confusion to illuminate the reader’s

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