“Recitatif” by Toni Morrison: A Rhetorical Analysis

 Hello! This is my essay that I did on Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif” for my African American Literature Class this quarter. Please do not copy my work. 

Recitatif by Toni Morrison: A Rhetorical Analysis

            Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif” tells the story of two girls living in New York, one Black and one White (but you will never know who is what), and the development of their relationship from being close friends to going separate paths but still happening upon each other. The two most central characters are Twyla and Roberta, Twyla is the narrator of the story, and there is five main parts of the story where their paths cross. There is also a particularly important side character, Maggie, who worked in the kitchen of the St. Bonaventure shelter the girls stayed in for four months. Toni Morrison uses strong imagery and details along with words and sentences that are not too complex to give the story a tense, somber, and sometimes immature mood. She also omits certain details and uses descriptions in a way that makes you question your own racial biases. Morrison herself is not the narrator, which make me feel that the story has a neutral tone.

            They meet for the first time at eight years old after being taken away from their mothers by the state and placed into a shelter. In this section of the story, Twyla recounts Roberta and her’s time in the shelter, and introduces us to Maggie. Morrison uses a lot of specific details to show the readers what the shelter looked like, the people there, the food, and the orchard around it. There specifically was a lot of visual imagery. For example, “So for the moment it didn't matter that we looked like salt and pepper standing there…” (1), “Two acres, four maybe, of these little apple trees. Hundreds of them. Empty and crooked like beggar women when I first came to St. Bonny's but fat with flowers when I left.” (2), and “Maggie fell down there once. The kitchen woman with legs like parentheses.” (2). She also uses a mix of short and long sentences that seem to align with how Twyla likely would have been talking at that time, which contradicts with the vivid imagery that an eight-year-old who was failing most of her classes would not be capable of, which could speak to what her age may be when she is narrating the book. For example, “We didn't like each other all that much at first, but nobody else wanted to play with us because we weren't real orphans with beautiful dead parents in the sky. We were dumped.” (2). Morrison’s choice to introduce the orchard and Maggie in this section serves as subtle foreshadowing that I did not even catch until the third time I read it. Morrison uses these details and specific writing style to invoke strong images in readers’ minds and to create a lighter feeling compared to the later parts of the story which are heavier.

            The second time they meet is at a Howard Johnsons restaurant in their late teens to early 20s. Morrison uses a lot of short dialogue and specific imagery to convey a feeling of awkwardness between the two girls, since it had been so long since they had seen each other. Specifically, “She squinted for a second and then said, ‘Wow.’ ‘Remember me?’ ‘Sure. Hey. Wow,’” (7) and “Without looking I could see the blue and white triangle on my head, my hair shapeless in a net, my ankles thick in white oxfords. Nothing could have been less sheer than my stockings.” (7). Morrison also uses details about Roberta and how she is acting to almost make it seem like Roberta was too cool for Twyla, namely when describing who Roberta was going to see and who she was with, “’Roberta coughed on her cigarette and the two guys rolled their eyes up at the ceiling. ‘Hendrix. Jimi Hendrix, asshole. He's only the biggest-Oh, wow. Forget it.’” (7). The details and dialogue that Morrison uses conveys a hostile feeling between the girls and an almost stale feeling in the restaurant.

            The third time is when they are both in their mid-20s to early 30s at a new grocery store in the city they both live in, Newburgh, New York. Morrison describes Twyla as probably low to middle class and Roberta as being rich, as she has a driver, servants, and is wearing diamonds. In this section, like earlier ones, Morrison uses vivid imagery and subtle details to give the story racial undertones, in this section she specifically talks about gentrification, “Magnificent old houses, so ruined they had become shelter for squatters and rent risks, were bought and renovated. Smart IBM people moved out of their suburbs back into the city and put shutters up and herb gardens in their backyards.” (8). Since Twyla’s in-laws have been living in the neighborhood that is getting gentrified for a long time, you would assume that she is poorer than Roberta and is Black.

             The fourth is a few months to a few years after the last meeting where Twyla is driving and sees Roberta protesting the integration of schools. The women protesting with Roberta crowd around Twyla’s car shaking it, which creates a tense and dangerous atmosphere in the story. During this event, Twyla indirectly calls Roberta racist, and Roberta reveals some interesting details about things that happened at the orchard. “’Maybe I am different now, Twyla. But you're not. You're the same little state kid who kicked a poor old black lady when she was down on the ground. You kicked a black lady and you have the nerve to call me a bigot.’ The coupons were everywhere and the guts of my purse were bunched under the dashboard. What was she saying? Black? Maggie wasn't black.” (16), in this instance, Roberta is referring to when Maggie fell in the orchard while walking to the bus. Maggie was referred to as “old and sandy-colored” (2) which likely means that she was Mixed, but she also could have been a very tan White person. The lack of concrete evidence of Maggie, Twyla, or Roberta’s race makes the story remarkably interesting and leads you to question your own racial biases.

            There are a lot of racial stereotypes and prejudice in the story, which you would usually use to infer someone’s race, but the stereotypes and prejudice are coming from all sides. When Roberta and Twyla’s mothers meet, Twyla’s mother reaches out her hand to shake Roberta’s mothers’ hand, but Roberta’s mother does not reach out her hand at all but instead “Roberta's mother looked down at me and then looked down at Mary too. She didn't say anything, just grabbed Roberta with her Bible-free hand and stepped out of line, walking quickly to the rear of it.” (5) which makes it seem as though Roberta’s mother is racist. But then again Twyla’s mother said to Twyla, “that they never washed their hair and they smelled funny.” (1). Morrison uses these subtle details to confuse the audience, make them question their views, and make the story compelling.

            The fifth encounter is a few months to years after the fourth and is set around Christmas. They meet in a restaurant and have a conversation about some things that Roberta said to Twyla during the fourth meeting. Roberta seems very apologetic about the things she said to Twyla about Maggie, “’Listen to me. I really did think she was black. I didn't make that up. I really thought so. But now I can't be sure. I just remember her as old, so old. And because she couldn't talk- well, you know, I thought she was crazy. She'd been brought up in an institution like my mother was and like I thought I would be too. And you were right. We didn't kick her. It was the gar girls. Only them. But, well, I wanted to. I really wanted them to hurt her. I said we did it, too. You and me, but that's not true. And I don't want you to carry that around. It was just that I wanted to do it so bad that day-wanting to is doing it.’” (19). The girls resolve their issue, but it doesn’t seem like a happy ending. Roberta ends up crying and Morrison leaves the story on a cliffhanger with Roberta saying “’ Oh shit, Twyla. Shit, shit, shit. What
the hell happened to Maggie?’” (20). The story is very somber, with racial undertones exposed with subtle details and intense imagery. Toni Morrison uses these details to give the story a mysterious and solemn mood.

Works Cited

Morrison, Toni. “Recitatif”. 1983.