Song of “Recitatif”: A Comparison Between Toni Morrison’s Short Story, “Recitatif”, and Novel, Song of Solomon
Racism and sexism: issues prevalent in societies past and present and causes of tension across the world today. While Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon addresses racism and sexism through themes of chaotic and childhood friendship and distant maternal relationships, Morrison’s “Recitatif” focuses on racism using the same themes. Although, contrastingly, “Recitatif” contains an interracial ambiguous female friendship that confronts and proves society’s racism, but Song of Solomon instead depicts an African-American, male, chaotic friendship of life and death that only directly tackles racism. While both “Recitatif” and Song of Solomon …show more content…
In “Recitatif” and Song of Solomon Twyla and Roberta and Milkman and Guitar friended each respective other in their early childhood years. As both friendships progress through their lives, the characters prove themselves “parallel on the one hand, yet opposite on the other” (Akers and Moore). In “Recitatif”, the mothers abandon their daughters in an orphanage early on but for opposite reasons. Twyla’s mother Mary abandons Twyla to “dance all night” whereas Roberta’s mother abandons Roberta due to her hospitalization (Morrison “Recitatif” 1). Morrison also sets up “Recitatif” so the characters are racially ambiguous, showing the characters’ oppositeness. In Song of Solomon, Milkman and Guitar also bond in their childhood, however Milkman and Guitar live in opposite circumstances: Milkman lives in wealth and neglects his community in terms of white versus black, while Guitar’s family struggles to make rent for their apartment and outrages to white-black incidents. Although both literary works have childhood friendships filled with “dissonance”, Milkman and Guitar stay closely connected within their community to the point of life and death compared to Twyla and Roberta who stay connected through only coincidental meetings throughout their
Racism and sexism: issues prevalent in societies past and present and causes of tension across the world today. While Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon addresses racism and sexism through themes of chaotic and childhood friendship and distant maternal relationships, Morrison’s “Recitatif” focuses on racism using the same themes. Although, contrastingly, “Recitatif” contains an interracial ambiguous female friendship that confronts and proves society’s racism, but Song of Solomon instead depicts an African-American, male, chaotic friendship of life and death that only directly tackles racism. While both “Recitatif” and Song of Solomon …show more content…
In “Recitatif” and Song of Solomon Twyla and Roberta and Milkman and Guitar friended each respective other in their early childhood years. As both friendships progress through their lives, the characters prove themselves “parallel on the one hand, yet opposite on the other” (Akers and Moore). In “Recitatif”, the mothers abandon their daughters in an orphanage early on but for opposite reasons. Twyla’s mother Mary abandons Twyla to “dance all night” whereas Roberta’s mother abandons Roberta due to her hospitalization (Morrison “Recitatif” 1). Morrison also sets up “Recitatif” so the characters are racially ambiguous, showing the characters’ oppositeness. In Song of Solomon, Milkman and Guitar also bond in their childhood, however Milkman and Guitar live in opposite circumstances: Milkman lives in wealth and neglects his community in terms of white versus black, while Guitar’s family struggles to make rent for their apartment and outrages to white-black incidents. Although both literary works have childhood friendships filled with “dissonance”, Milkman and Guitar stay closely connected within their community to the point of life and death compared to Twyla and Roberta who stay connected through only coincidental meetings throughout their