Analysis of Recitatif Essay

Analysis of "Recitatif" By Toni Morrison

This story is Twyla's narrative of her long-term relationship with Roberta, another eight-year-old who shares her failing grades and "not real orphan" status at St. Bonaventure's, the shelter where they live for a few months.

The two girls become fast friends despite the discomfort due to their situation, their problematic mothers (Roberta's is hyper-religious and unfriendly; Twyla's is pretty but childlike, an embarrassment to Twyla because of her provocative clothing and behavior), and their racial differences (one is white, one African-American). They also share a serious moment, in which they watch bigger girls assault Maggie, a disabled woman who works in the institution's kitchen.

The girls meet by accident four more times; as young adults in a Howard Johnson's, where Twyla works and Roberta stops in with two young men on the way to the coast for "an appointment with Hendrix"; in a grocery store in Newburgh, the blue-collar town on the Hudson river where Twyla lives (Roberta lives in white-collar Annandale); at a picket line against a busing plan (Roberta is protesting the busing; Twyla ends up picketing for it); and finally in a diner on Christmas Eve. Each time they meet, they reminisce about what has happened in their lives, but also return to the defining moment of Maggie, arguing about what really happened and what role they played.

The story includes a surplus of human differences like race, class, and disability. While the characters and text are alert to race and other issues of difference, it is impossible to tell which girl is white and which is African-American. As a reader, one tries to decipher which is which using some evidence but it is hard to do so. The fact that in the world of St. Bonny's, in which all the children are punished, the lowest person in the hierarchy is Maggie, is a rich source for discussion as well. The title "Recitatif" alludes to the power of memory and the power of returning to the same traumatic event in the company of another person less committed to preserving a safe version of what happened.