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"Recitatif" is a short story by Toni Morrison created in 1983 that takes place in the orphanage between two little girls named Twyla and Roberta who befriended each other, and the changes in their relationship and their worldviews as time progresses.

As the title suggests, by the word's definition of "a style of music that jives between song and speech" captures the essence of the story's episodic encounters of the two characters over the years, provoking the drama and tension that drives the short story while enlightening social commentary regarding race and social class.

The story's elusive nature of narrating arouses the prejudicial speculations of the readers on how a race is determined by the events that were surfacing through the text, allowing them to presumably guess the characters' race.

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1. How does Morrisson suggest racial coding in characters without revealing racial identity in the text? (Unna)

2. What is the significance of the shift from poetic writing (as seen on pages 1 and 2) to prose for the rest of Recitatif? (Unna)

3. What is the significance of referencing their memory of the orchard and Maggie in representing their racial difference as the characters got older (Reigne)

4. How did the two protest placards characterize these two women? What does this signify? (Ae)

5. How does Jimi Hendrix, as mentioned in the story, play a significant role in the discernment of race between Twyla and Roberta? (Johann)

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“Recitatif” is set during three different time periods where racial tensions and shifts in culture were predominant within the US.

The first part of the story, when Roberta and Twyla are eight years old, took place in the 1950s. Jim Crow segregation was in full swing and the Civil Rights Movement began. In 1954, the Supreme Court issued Brown vs. Board of Education, which outlawed school segregation. In 1957, the famous “Little Rock Nine”—nine African American students enrolled in a previously white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas—were met with severe protests by white segregationists and eventually required the intervention of President Eisenhower to be able to actually set foot in their school.

The next stage of the story is set during the 1960s, when Roberta and Twyla are young adults. The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, and the Black Power movement gained momentum during this period, particularly following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. The ‘60s also saw a huge cultural shift, with the rise of a rebellious youthful counter-culture which was broadly defined by rejection of conservative social norms, progressive politics, and an embrace of “sex, drugs, rock’n’roll.” A key figure of this culture was the psychedelic rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix, whom Roberta is on her way to visit when she stops at Howard Johnson’s.

The 1970s saw marginal improvements in race relations, but black communities still faced high rates of poverty and incarceration, which worsened notably under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, who was elected in 1981. Although “Recitatif” was written at the beginning of the Reagan era, it alludes to some of the social issues that were exacerbated during his presidency, such as an increased disparity between the quality of life of the wealthy and the poor. Meanwhile, despite the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling taking place in 1954, the 1970s and ‘80s saw an increase in the use of busing as a method of forcing the racial integration of schools. Although it has subsided since the 1990s, the practice of busing is still in use today.

Notes:

Jim Crow Law - According to Britannica, Jim Crow Laws were states and local statutes that legalize race segregation.

Busing - According to Oxford Dictionary, it is a transport (a child of one race) to a school where another race is predominant, in an attempt to promote racial integration.

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Toni Morrison’s Recitatif uncovers a surprising reality of how racial difference influences the creation of social dynamics through intersectionality as the characters go through a state of confusion about their memories in the orphanage and Maggie.

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On Motherhood and Abandonment in Recitatif

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On Motherhood and Abandonment in Recitatif

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possible references to be used related to literature 

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possible references to be used related to literature 