Recitatif

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Recitatif

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Question: 1

The exploration of truth by Twyla and Roberta at the end of the story, regarding what they saw at St. Boony's during their childhood, affects the sense of the truth of the later episodes as well. Roberta tells that Twyla kicked the old black lady, instead of helping her. The whole story has been narrated in the voice of Twyla, and she did not mention the scene earlier. It raises the concern that she may have been telling only the things which benefitted her. It also makes the readers think that Roberta would be more reliable as compared to Twyla because she did not include the information about an incident in order to save her face (Morrison, 235).

Question: 2

When the two girls move to the orphanage and Twyla thinks that she would have to live with a girl of a totally different race, is the point which makes the readers first to assume the racial difference. It also makes the readers aware of the fact that the two girls also belong to two different classes of society. The readers do not change their mind later in the story as the racial differences of the girls are evident, even though there is no explanation about who is actually African American. The author has withheld this information, in order to make the readers think about it and make their own assumptions (Morrison, 238).

Question: 3

The relationship of Twyla and Roberta keeps evolving throughout the story. In the orphanage, they become the support of each other, while not giving importance to their differences. However, after the encounter of their mothers, things become a little complicated between them, which extend to their adult life as well. When both of them get married, they try to get along each other, which are again affected by the racial conditions of the society. In the end, they again connect with each other, as well as talk about their past mistakes (Morrison, 243).

Response Paper

I am interested in the racial difference described in the story. Racial, as well as class difference, is one of the main themes of the short story, although the author has not included information about the exact race of the two main characters. The racial difference was the main thing which kept the two characters at a distance to each other. They try to overcome it again and gains, however, they could not get rid of the reality. Moreover, the societal tensions also affected their relationship and made their race difference a strong hindrance. The racial differences may have been an important theme of the story, which not only impacted the childhood, as well as adulthood of the two characters.

The two characters kept trying to forget about their differences and get along with each other, as they used to do during their childhood. They got along in order to fight with the senior girls who tried to bully them. When their racial difference was accompanied by the class difference in their adulthood, they were unable to think the same about each other still and became hostile. They kept struggling to settle their tensions, however, were unable to do so. At last, they ignored their differences for the sake of their strong relationship during childhood and resolved their differences (Morrison, 240).

The short story has highlighted the fact that racial difference was a strong reality of society. Even if people tried to ignore it and keep their relationships friendly, they were unable o do that because of society. This is the main reason that Twyla and Roberta were also affected by the attitude and thinking of the society, which made them suffer for their whole life.

Work Cited

Morrison, Toni. Recitatif. Difusión, Centro de Investigación y Publicaciones de Idiomas, 2010: 231-244.