Recitiaf By Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison is the first African American author to win the Nobel Prize for literature. Her books are known for their epic subjects, wonderful dialects and lavishly defiant African-American characters. One of Morrison’s novels titled Recitiaf, talks about the balance of integration between two races. It starts out with two female characters’ name Twyla and Roberta both were eight years old, became friends at an orphanage called St Bonney’s. Twyla and Roberta’s mothers were not able to take care of them, which is why they lived in the orphanage.
The main characters are identified by the description of their mothers. The narrator does not reveal the specific race of the main characters as she did not want to stereotype the roles, but wanted
At that time, Twyla lives in Newburgh and works at the Howard Johnsons Diner. After the “How’s it been going conversation, “Roberta tells Twyla that she has leave to go meet with a famous rock star, Jimmy Hendrix. Twyla responds, “Hendrix! really fantastic, what’s she doing now?” Roberta is shocked and calls Twyla an ‘asshole’ because Twyla has no idea who Jimmy is. She then leaves without a word. Twyla then ask Roberta, “How’s your mother?” which makes Roberta feel uncomfortable (50-53). In these lines, the narrator shows that the girls are having an uncomfortable conversation to the point that both are rude to each other and asking things about their mothers in a demeaning way along with calling the other
This time they met at the food emporium and they behaved like sisters who were separated for far too long. Twyla brings up the topic of Maggie, the disabled character in the orphanage. They discussed how they never knew Maggie as she worked in the kitchen and was known for being a ‘mute’ because she was deaf and quiet. Roberta reminds Twyla the truth about Maggie’s accident and how she went back to live at the orphanage after Twyla left. She tells Twyla that she ended up running away from the orphanage at the age of fourteen. In addition, Roberta mentions that Maggie did not fall over, she was pushed in the orchard by mean girls who also lived at the orphanage.
In lines (120-121), Twyla never seems to remember what happened, she then begins to question herself. At St Bonney’s, there were older girls who had behavior problems, and they treated Twyla and Roberta horribly. Twyla and Roberta used to go to the orchard and watch the older girls talk. The older girls would torture them once