Race in Recitatif free essay sample

Recitatif is a story written by Toni Morrison. It is about characters Twyla and Roberta and their experiences during and after being put in a shelter. Race can change what a person’s motives are viewed as. Racial stereotyping and racial segregation play a big part in this story. We will write a custom essay sample on Race in Recitatif or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Twyla and Roberta are of a different race/ethnicity which causes strife between the two and they have different opinion on things. It never truly states either characters race, but it says that they look like â€Å"salt and pepper†, indicating that one is white and one is black. Race affects a lot of things in any situation, no matter how much we want it not to. Some statements give you an idea of which is which. Twyla’s ethnicity is indicated by Jimi Hendrix and Roberta’s by the statement, â€Å"you know how it was with black and white back then†. Twyla appears to be white and Roberta appears to be black in this story. Another thing that indicates it is that Roberta is completely against busing but Twyla is not. Plus they both thought that Maggie was of their own race. Twyla thought she was white and Roberta thought she was black. Also, each others attitudes towards each other or toward others also indicates which is white and which is black. Although neither character can remember exactly what happened with Maggie, the mute lady that worked at the shelter, each character had their own attitudes towards it. Roberta that it was more acceptable that Maggie was beaten than Twyla did because Roberta thought Maggie was black, while Twyla didn’t think she was because she thought Maggie was white. Each character has their own viewpoint on exactly what had happened that day due to their race which gave them a different attitude towards the situation. Also, Twyla thought she fell and the older girls laughed at her versus Roberta thinking she was tripped and beaten. The big thing in this story is racial stereotyping. You would never know which character is of which race without it. The writer uses racial stereotyping and a very clever way when writing this story. Instead of outright saying which is which, you figure it out based on racial stereotyping. In most cases we should not racially stereotype or even stereotype at all. But the author uses it in such a way that it is okay in this instance. Without this racial stereotyping, you would never know which is â€Å"salt† and which is â€Å"pepper†. Racial stereotyping gives you the information needed to know from which racial background each character comes from. After everything that happened in the shelter both characters eventually left the shelter. Twyla became a waitress and Twyla did some drugs and became a part of the bad crowd. When they saw each other again, Twyla was happy to see Roberta, but Roberta didn’t feel the same way due to her attitude towards her. They moved on. Both characters got married and had families. They then met in again in a supermarket and Roberta had a good attitude towards Twyla. Depending on whom she was with and what part of her life she was in, Roberta’s attitude towards Twyla would change. This is a racial stereotype. Roberta again had a bad racial attitude towards Twyla when she started picketing and protesting things about the school system and racial issues. While Twyla was okay with segregation in the school system and blacks going to one school while whites went to another, Roberta was not okay with it. She was actually strongly against it. She felt that blacks and whites should have equal opportunities and she was picketing about it. Because of an incident while Twyla was in a car and black women were rocking her car and scaring her, Twyla started picketing against them on the other side of the street. In conclusion, racial stereotyping and racial segregation both have a part in this story. Racial stereotyping helps you figure out which character is black and which is white. This is important because of the racial segregation going on at the time. The schools and bus systems were separating the races and the blacks were trying to change that. They were wanting equal opportunities for themselves and everyone. In the end you never find out the true story about Maggie and never know whether she was black or white, tripped or fell, and whether she was beaten or not.