Twyla And Roberta Meet - 898 Words

Twyla and Roberta meet – which occurs at intervals that are not dated, but which take place many years apart. Each of the girls gets married, but Twyla remains in a lower middle-class existence – she gets married to a working-class man, a fireman – while Roberta accumulates a chauffeur, a fur coat and evening gowns, a house in a better suburb, and a husband who works as a IBM executive. Each time that the pair meet, Twyla is in some way rejected, just as her own mother was rejected by Roberta’s mother. If anything, this rejection intensifies over the years, as the class divide between the two stratifies and increases. However, there is one occasion when Twyla and Roberta do not battle along class lines: this takes place during their first meeting as fully-grown adults, when the two bump into each other a fancy supermarket (Twyla feels guilty for spending her husband’s hard-earned money there), and then go to lunch. This time, instead of fighting ove r class distinctions, the pair fight about something else: memory. Specifically, they argue about the memory of an employee at St. Bonaventure, a mute kitchen-worker named Maggie who was mocked by the older girls at â€Å"St. Bonnie’s,† and by Twyla and Roberta as well. Oddly, the two women cannot come to a consensus on a single memory – whether Maggie fell down in the orchard next to the orphanage (as Twyla claims), or whether she was pushed down by the older girls (as Roberta states that she was). Twyla finds it odd that RobertaShow MoreRelatedThe Differences Of Main Characters In Recitatif By Toni Morrison1043 Words   |  5 Pagesabandoned by their mothers. The main characters, Twyla and Roberta, are portrayed at different points in their life, ranging from when they were eight until their adulthood. Because of the situations with their mothers, Twyla and Roberta develop unhealthy senses of self-image and attempt to solve them with distractions. As time goe s by, their characteristics become vastly different because of their lifestyles and outlooks. Although Twyla and Roberta both struggled with mother issues, they developRead MoreOpera of Power: Recitatif by Toni Morrison1299 Words   |  6 Pagesrace. Twyla, the story’s narrator, and Roberta, a girl of the opposite race, are dumped at St. Bonaventure, a state home, by their mothers. Tossed and held together by the bond of abandonment, the girls form a friendship that carries them through their allotted time at St. Bonny’s. One day, the girls witness Maggie, the mute kitchen worker, fall in the apple orchard, as the older girls in the state home scorn Maggie. Dissonance arises in their separate memories of the event because Roberta remembersRead MoreLiterary Analysis Of Recitatif1135 Words   |  5 Pagesconversations between Twyla and Roberta. The short story titled â€Å"Recifatif† is written by Toni Morrison. Morrison was born in 1931 in Ohio, and is known for writing novels with African American history involved. She has won a Nobel Prize for her work, and has written popular novels, such as The Bluest Eyes, Sula, Song of Solomon, Beloved, Jazz, Love, and A Mercy. â€Å"Ricifatif† is set during the time of racial segregation between the 1950’s and the 1980’s. Two 8 year olds meet in a shelter, as theirRead MoreRecitatif Critical Analysis1312 Words   |  6 PagesThe author goes into great detail to show this. Toni Morrison’s, Recitatif, is another piece of literature that explores race, sex, whiteness etc†¦ The two main characters, Twyla and Roberta face challenges with race and class. Toni Morrison is an African American lady who describes her struggles of her class/race through Twyla, a black character. Similarly, the author of Giovanni’s room was gay and describes his struggles as a homosexual African American through the main character, David. In manyRead MoreRecitatif: Toni Morrison Essay935 Words   |  4 PagesTwyla’s mother was â€Å"always dancing† as a stripper and Roberta’s mother was a well off business woman â€Å"who was always sick† (Morrison) as Roberta woul d say. In the time period of the story, it would have made sense that a black mother would not have had a good paying job as a business woman. Because of this, one would think that Twyla was the black child while Roberta was the white one. Also, both girls’ mothers come to visit St. Bonny’s one day. Morrison focuses on the interaction between the grownRead MoreTwyla and Roberta ´s Friendship in Toni Morrison’s Recititaf Essay679 Words   |  3 Pages The whirlwind relationship of Twyla Roberta. Friendships tend to change over time, for better or worse. This is illustrated in Toni Morrison’s short story Recititaf. The relationships of Twyla and Roberta are a rollercoaster from the moment they meet at the orphanage, to their confrontational meeting at the Howard Johnsons, to the picketing during segregation, until the end when they try and sort things out. OneRead MoreRacism : Friendship By Toni Morrison890 Words   |  4 PagesRecitatif focuses on one major character, Twyla, who was raised in an orphanage, not because her parents were dead, but because of her mother’s need to â€Å"dance all night† and the lack of care for Twyla. The fact of Twyla’s mother lacking parental skills was a key reason Twyla was brought up to be the racist girl she was. Twyla, identify her racism at a young age, does her best to overstep this aspect of her life to improve for only herself. In this story Twyla and Roberta’s friendship is characterizedRead Mo reRacism : Black Or White?949 Words   |  4 Pagesunderstand her critique on racism: the color of a person’s skin does not matter. Throughout Recitatif Morrison never reveals Twyla s or Roberta’s race to the reader. However, what race they are can be debated, based on information Morrison gives in the story. For example, Roberta smells funny, can’t read, and has big hair. For a reader to come to a conclusion on what race they think Roberta was by those three attributes of her would mean the reader would be relying on stereotypes to help them come to theirRead MoreRecitatif Character Analysis1741 Words   |  7 Pageswritten in 1983. This story is about two woman, Twyla and Roberta, who first becomes friends in a shelter when they were young and share a problematic friendship from that point on. Throughout the story there are several moments of tension because of the black/white issue between the two girls. Morrison made sure these racial cues were not made obvious and it is up to the reader to place certain values of right and wrong on the woman. Twyla, the narrator of the story, was an eight-year-old girlRead MoreThe Identity Of Twyla And Roberta Essay1113 Words   |  5 Pagesexplores the relationship between Twyla and Roberta, and their experiences based on their racial differences. By decoding each characters racial identity, we can then understand how race defines a person’s status in society. In analyzing the social cues such as culture, politics and economic signs, to identify the racial identity of Twyla and Roberta. I believe that Twyla is the white character and Roberta the black character . During the course of the narrative Twyla describes her on and off again