Book Review: Recitatif by Toni Morrison

My Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“My mother danced all night and Roberta’s was sick."

Twyla and Roberta, both eight years old, find themselves wards of the State and placed at St. Bonaventure (St. Bonny’s as it is more commonly referred to by the children). They spend four months together as roommates and slowly become friends keeping each other company and looking out for each other in the classroom, the lunchroom and in the orchard where the senior girls like to tease and bully the younger ones. We are told that the population at the orphanage /shelter is racially diverse but what separates these two girls from the rest is not their race (one of them is black and the other white) but the fact that unlike the other children they are not orphans but have been “dumped” and thus the other children tend to ignore them. The author leaves their racial identities ambiguous alluding to the fact that they belong to different races indirectly (“salt and pepper” as they are referred to by the other children, or the fact that Twyla claims that her mother would not approve of her being assigned the same room as Roberta). 

Twyla ( who is also our narrator) is the first to leave after four months and they lose touch but encounter each other multiple times over the next few decades, each of these interactions markedly different from the ease of their childhood fondness for each other. They are adults now, socially conditioned and conscious of their differences – race, class and social status and thus they are distant, somewhat on different sides – a demarcation that becomes obvious when they find themselves protesting on different sides on the issue of integration of the school Twyla’s son is being bussed to.

One character that is referred to from their childhood is that of Maggie, employed in the kitchen of St. Bonaventure who we are told was mute and also on the receiving end of a lot of ridicule and insults from the older girls .

“Maggie fell down there once. The kitchen woman with legs like parentheses.”

At approximately 20 pages this is a fast but powerful narrative that delves into the psyche of not just the two main characters as they find themselves in a world characterized by racism, prejudice and discrimination but also forces the readers to take stock of their personal preconceived notions and assumptions about the characteristics they attribute to ‘others’ (from the most simple things like food habits and clothes to life choices and views on education and general worldview). Our focus is directed to the differences while failing to acknowledge the similarities that we possess as human beings.

In the author’s own words, this story was “an experiment in the removal of all racial codes from a narrative about two characters of different races for whom racial identity is crucial”. The author’s test subjects are not the characters in the story but us- the readers, and we play into her hands very easily. The narrative is constructed in such a manner so as to compel the reader to continuously ponder over the racial identities of Twyla and Roberta. Our focus is continuously directed to the hints throughout the narrative and we rely on our perceptions and interpretations in trying to figure out which race each of these two girls belongs so much so that we relegate an episode of gross injustice towards another character in the narrative to the background, preoccupied with our own quest rather than giving due diligence to an issue that deserves our attention- as do Twyla and Roberta.

Recitatif is a short but impactful experience and though it was written in the 1980s, it is as relevant today as it was as then. Zadie Smith’s introductory essay is brilliant though I would recommend reading the story before the introduction. The introduction is an analysis of the story enriched with a discussion on Ms. Morrison’s thoughts on race and racial identity which is important reading but better read if it follows the story. Emotional and thought-provoking, it is impossible to read this short story and not engage in moments of soul searching and introspection. Reading Toni Morrison will do that to you!