Twyla And Roberta In Recitatif By Toni Morrison

Prejudice is a predominant theme in Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif”. A short story that follows the lives of Twyla and Roberta, two girls of different races who met in a state home. This piece has been the subject of much discussion, particularly about race, but also about class and disability. Prejudice has deeply impacted and shaped the main characters’ lives. “Recitatif” addresses the characters’ prejudice in a variety of ways, but also forces the audience to consider their own prejudice through Morrison’s use of stereotypical descriptions.

Twyla, the narrator, has a prejudiced mindset that becomes clear throughout the work. Almost immediately into the story, one can see Twyla’s thoughts about Roberta: “it was something else to be stuck in a

When first describing the memory of the orchard, Twyla says she remembers Maggie falling (Morrison 240). However, Twyla’s perception of Maggie changes throughout the story. Twyla begins to question the accuracy of her memory of Maggie is accurate when Roberta claims, “No, Twyla. They knocked her down. Those girls pushed her down and tore her clothes…You’ve blocked it, Twyla” (247). As the story progresses, both girls question what really happened to Maggie. When the women are having their feud over bussing, which is likely due to racial issues, Roberta tells Twyla, “You’re the same little state kid who kicked a poor old black lady when she was down on the ground…and you kicked her. We both did. You kicked a black lady who couldn’t even scream” (249). Race was very important to Roberta, but Twyla remembered Maggie as “sandy colored” and disabled (240). Twyla mulls over the Maggie situation and realizes, “I didn’t kick her; I didn’t join in with the gar girls and kick that lady, but I sure did want to. Maggie was my dancing mother” (250). Sandra Stanley argues that Twyla’s hatred of Maggie is because Maggie reminds her of her mom who is “’deaf’ and ‘dumb’ to her needs” (76). Stanley argues further that Twyla identifies with Maggie’s victimization and often feels disabled by her circumstances (84). When the girls run into each other at the diner, Roberta realizes they did not kick Maggie as she had previously thought, and she was not even sure if Maggie was black (Morrison 251). What she did remember, was how she had wanted to kick Maggie and “wanting to is doing it” (251) Roberta also saw her mother, who was institutionalized, in Maggie and thought Maggie was insane (251). For both girls, seeing the mistreatment of Maggie, who reminded them of their mothers, seemed to bring a sense of justice to them at the