Recitatif - Toni Morrison (1983) - Race as a social construct

Extract

[...] As such, race is not statistically significant enough to constitute classes, but orphan status is. Thus, in this microcosm, society organizes itself around just another arbitrary categorization. That Twyla and Roberta are ostracized together by others, and not one by the other, shows implicitly the constructed-ness of race by substituting for something equally absurd. After all, "even the New York City Puerto Ricans and the upstate Indians ignored [them]." Later in life, the divide between the two women takes on another dimension: that of class. [...]

[...] Recitatif - Toni Morrison (1983) - Race as a social construct "Recitatif", Toni Morrison's only short story, follows a fairly traditional structure: the narrator relates several episodes in her life, all centered around chance encounters with a childhood friend. Yet the narrative is thoroughly informed by an experiment in omission. Indeed, the two protagonists are not of the same race (one is black, and one is white) and it is never clear who is who; nevertheless, race is fundamental for these two characters and structures their relationship. [...]

[...] When Twyla is so furious that she decides to protest the protestors, she devises a sign in direct response to Roberta's and realizes: "actually my sign didn't make sense without Roberta's". Later, she attempts to match Roberta's place in the demonstration so that Roberta can read her response sign. Twyla, of course, participated in the protest only because the sight of Roberta protesting angered her; she is apathetic to the issue: knew I was supposed to feel something strong, but I didn't know what and James wasn't any help. All the schools seemed dumps to me." At other points in the story, the two characters are brought together. [...]

[...] That doubt troubles her more than the accusation: she is sure she was never capable of such cruelty, but she feels guilty for having wanted to harm Maggie. The conflict - and the story - resolves when Roberta and Twyla independently reach the same memory and interpretation of the event: the two girls witnessed Maggie's mistreatment at the hands of the older girls and both wished to take part in it, which to them is just the same as actually doing it. In this shared secret guilt, despite the miscommunications and erroneous memories, as well as their surface yet shaping oppositions, they are one and the same. [...]

[...] That allows the story to make a powerful statement about race. Yet, even further, Twyla and Roberta end up existing only in opposition to each other. Indeed, Twyla's account is exclusively concerned with encounters with her friend. The ellipses in the story make it clear: she does not exist when Roberta is not there - just as Roberta does not exist when she is not there. There is remarkably little talk of how they ended up where they are each time they meet; they reminisce but rarely ever catch up. [...]