Similarities Between Twyla And Roberta In Recitatif By Toni Morrison

“Recitatif” is a short story by Toni Morrison about two young girls, one is black and the other is white. The two girls, Twyla and Roberta, meet each other with preconceived ideas about the other. The relationship between the girls changes intensely as the two get older and establish lives of their own. The author never states which of the two girls is white and which is black, but many statements throughout the text mold the reader’s idea about which race each of the girls reside as. Throughout this story, many stereotypes are reinforced and many postulations are created as the author tells of the many differences and similarities between the girls. Initially, Twyla begins the story with many preconceived ideas about Roberta because she is “a whole other race.” It is clear she was raised with these prejudices by her mother as she states, “one of the things that she [Twyla’s mother] said was …show more content…
Roberta sure did. Smell funny, I mean” (Morrison pg#). This stereotype initially made me assume that Twyla was white because, at the time this story takes places, black people were generally lower class and maybe could not afford to stay as clean as white people. Twyla then goes on to state, “My mother won’t like you putting me in here” (Morrison pg#). This state reinforces the fact that her mother raised her with these stereotypes. Later, Twyla mentions that Roberta could not read and did not pay attention to the teacher, while she could read but just could not remember the content (Morrison pg#). This bit of information strongly strengthened the idea that Roberta was black because black people did not have as much opportunity to get a good education as white people at the time. In many instances, the two girls seem very different but they have many of the same desires. When Twyla begins talking of when their mothers came to visit, she and