Racial identity in Morrison’s Recitatif

The issue of race is one aspect depicted by Morrison in the relationship between Twyla and Roberta and one that influenced their friendship bondage since they were children at the orphanage. This issue can shape the various perception of the story by readers, considering that as in the case of Maggie, history tends to endorse an affinity between disability and race. This racial point of view can be can be adopted by a reader while trying to understand the relationship between these characters. It is interesting how the girls are shown to be from different races with no clarification on which one is of which race, an aspect that could indicate that the story is not about race at all.

On one hand race can form a major part of this story, more so on the relationship between Twyla and Roberto. The story explores the relations between these two characters as being shaped by the fact that are from different races. Instead of delving into the diverse culture of Africans Americans, the writer shows how the difference between races in the larger culture of the society is determined by the whites and blacks[1]. The use if description and characterization puts emphasizes on the complicity of the reader[2]. It makes it necessary to decode the characters’ racial identify so as to discover how the status of each race in the society is defined and in the process, show how the black female view their identity in a society where men and white people are dominant. An analysis of the culture and economic signs ingrained in the story for each character can be used to explore their identity. The difference between the races is revealed by Twyla upon stating that Roberta and she “looked like salt and pepper standing there”[3]. Even though the racial identities of the two girls are not revealed, there is an attempt to show the fact that people in a society will always tend to categorize others immediately.

The overlapping memories between Twyla and Roberta, shown by their startling difference in the narration of the past common childhood event, places Maggie as a very important character in deciphering the issue of race in the story. In their shared memory, Maggie is tormented by the older girls in the shelter.  Twyla and Maggie remembrance of what happened to Maggie causes them to feel guilty as they are coming of age[4].  The story provides no proof of her race, but the conversation between the characters shows some indications of harassment due to the aspect of race. Roberta accuses Twyla for kicking a black lady while she was on lying on the ground and who couldn’t even scream[5]. Although the idea of race is barely depicted in this scene, one may assume that Maggie was being targeted by the older girls because of her race and made worse by her disability. In harassing Maggie, the gar girls act upon what they understand to be a racial drama[6]. Whether she is black or not, both characters purpose to deny her humanity trampling upon her like she is in a different state of being.  May be the writer tries to point out the fact that if humans can treat one another in such a cruel manner even in childhood age , regardless of their certainty of the victim’s racial identity , it ,means that age does makes  no difference.

As stated, the economic status can be used to illustrate the issue of race in the story, and any reader can take part in racialist complications that the narrator sets up and the ambiguity of the language used. Upon meeting in a food emporium, we learn that Twyla is married to a fireman , has got one  child and her income is limited , while Roberto is married to an executive which enables her to lead a luxurious life with her husband, children and Chinese chauffer  in a wealthy neighborhood[7]. In a voice that seems to harbor racial sentiments, Twyla concludes that Roberta and her family have it easy in all things because “they think they own the world”[8]. Thereafter, these women find themselves on opposite side of the struggle for school integration, and their children encounter bussing. Roberta’s to a school is in located affluent neighborhood while Twyla’s to the school attended by the Roberta’s children. Twyla challenges Roberta on her take on bussing but Roberta attempts to smooth out the conflict by saying that it is a free country to which Twyla responds that it is not yet free .The support for social change and bussing by Twyla, and the self-centered opposition by Roberta for them places both of them along bitter racial divides. Such a racial line splits the late 1970’s and early 1980s feminism structure[9]. By excluding the racial prejudice of the women during the case of school desegregation, the writer intends to debunk the earlier thesis of the story that race is a non issue. By not revealing which girl is which race, perhaps the writer intends to bring out the topic of racial acceptance, which enables Roberta and Twyla to overlook the racial differences. This in spite of Twyla’s mother assertion that Roberta’s kind “never washed their hair and they smelled funny”[10].  

However, Morrison’s story can be more than just a depiction of racial differences. The writer perhaps intended to bring forth more pressing issues that have been neglected in the society and the reader may fail to spot them, bringing their own meaning to this writing. Apart from the subject of race and segregation, the writer highlights some outright issues especially on disability. Though the society attempts to be aware of individuals who are disabled , some people may be uncomfortable with it more so young people  who ,may find it difficult to understand the concept. Rather than viewing the story only on the dimension of racial divides or tensions, the reader may want to look into the broader perspective. The character of Maggie is used by Morrison to bring the issue of disabilities to young people like Roberta and Twyla, rather than just harassment due to the race[11]. It is a call to understand the special needs that the kind of Maggie may have and not just to sympathize with her because of racial identity. The ignorance portrayed by Twyla and Roberta extends beyond the racial segregation and covers issues that need personal judgment on what is right or wrong. Just as the writer does to the issue of racial identity, she does not describe Maggie’s disability but offers stereotypes that provide hints to her audience. In Twyla’s words, “Maggie couldn’t talk” and “her legs (were) like parentheses and how she rocked when she walked”[12]. 

In addition, an argument can be brought forward that Roberto and Twyla are more alike than they are different especially at the beginning of the story. This can be a deliberate effort by the writer to have the reader see beyond the race. The two girls are of the same age, their mothers abandoned them and share similar living conditions at the orphanage. They share similar hopes and interests, and this could have been defined by their childhood relationship that goes beyond racial identity. This only changes in their adulthood after they become separated by economic, social and cultural factors. As both girls acknowledge that they did not know whether Maggie was deaf or mute or her race, they come to see that their own unsure memories have become repressed or rather muted.  Perhaps the writer did not want the audience to read into the racial notion, but to decipher Maggie’s character as representing absence and silent or a representation of their mothers who failed in their roles as parents[13]. It can be the intention of the text to mute Maggie.

In conclusion, the story by Morrison can be viewed from the different perspectives, with one perspective being racial identity and the other looking beyond the racial aspect.  The racial aspect would understand the text as pointing to the racial codes in the society. The other perspective would avoid racial misreading and try to decipher other themes that may be neglected in the society beyond racial codes.

 

 

 

References

Androne, Helane A. (2007). Revised Memories and Colliding Identities: Absence and Presence in Morrison's "Recitatif and Viramontes's "Tears on My Pillow" Vol. 32. 2 Retrieved from: http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/44173951/MELUS_article_pub.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=

Smith, Larry E. 1996. Changing representations of minorities East and West: selected essays. Honolulu, Hawai'i: Univ. of Hawai'i Press.

Stanley, Sandra K. (2011).Maggie in Toni Morrison's "Recitatif": The Africanist Presence and Disability Studies.Vol. 36.2

Tuula, K. (2011).And My SignDidn’t Make Sense without Hers: Challenging Stereotypes in Toni Morrison s The Bluest Eye, "Recitatif”, and Tar Baby. Retrieved from: https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/36972/andmysig.pdf?sequence=1

Morrison, T. (1983). Recitatif.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Smith, Larry E. 1996. Changing representations of minorities East and West: selected essays. Honolulu, Hawai'i: Univ. of Hawai'i Press.

 

[2] Androne, Helane A. (2007). Revised Memories and Colliding Identities: Absence and Presence in Morrison's "Recitatif and Viramontes's "Tears on My Pillow" Vol. 32. 2 Retrieved from: http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/44173951/MELUS_article_pub.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId

 

[3] Morrison, T. (1983). Recitatif.

[4] Stanley, Sandra K. (2011).Maggie in Toni Morrison's "Recitatif": The Africanist Presence and Disability Studies.Vol. 36.2

 

[5] Morrison, T. (1983). Recitatif.

 

[6] Stanley, Sandra K. (2011).Maggie in Toni Morrison's "Recitatif": The Africanist Presence and Disability Studies.Vol. 36.2

[7] Androne, Helane A. (2007). Revised Memories and Colliding Identities: Absence and Presence in Morrison's "Recitatif and Viramontes's "Tears on My Pillow" Vol. 32. 2 Retrieved from: http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/44173951/MELUS_article_pub.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=

[8]  Morrison, T. (1983). Recitatif.

 

[9] Smith, Larry E. 1996. Changing representations of minorities East and West: selected essays. Honolulu, Hawai'i: Univ. of Hawai'i Press.

 

[10] Smith, Larry E. 1996. Changing representations of minorities East and West: selected essays. Honolulu, Hawai'i: Univ. of Hawai'i Press.

 

[11] Tuula, K. (2011).And My SignDidn’t Make Sense without Hers: Challenging Stereotypes in Toni Morrison s The Bluest Eye, "Recitatif”, and Tar Baby. Retrieved from: https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/36972/andmysig.pdf?sequence=1

 

[12] Morrison, T. (1983). Recitatif.

[13] Stanley, Sandra K. (2011).Maggie in Toni Morrison's "Recitatif": The Africanist Presence and Disability Studies.Vol. 36.2