Recitatif

美国文学

结业论文

An Overview of Characters and Themes in Recitatif

Recitatif

is the only published short story by luminary African- American novelist

Toni

Morrison.

It

appeared

in

a

1983

anthology

of

writing

by

African-American

women entitled

Confirmation

, edited by Amiri and Amina Baraka.

Recitatif

tells the

story of the conflicted friendship between two girls

—

one black and one white

—

from

the time they meet and bond at age eight while staying at an orphanage through their

re-acquaintance

as

mothers

on

different

sides

of

economic,

political,

and

racial

divides in a recently gentrified town in upstate New York.

The title alludes to a style of musical declamation that hovers between song and

ordinary

speech;

it

is

used

for

dialogic

and

narrative

interludes

during

operas

and

or

atories. The term “recitatif” also once included the now

-obsolete meaning,

or

rhythm

peculiar

to

any

language.

Both

of

these

definitions

suggest

the

story's

episodic

nature,

how

each

of

the

story's

five

sections

happens

in

a

register

that

is

different from the respective ordinary lives of its two central characters, Roberta and

Twyla.

The

story's

vignettes

bring

together

the

rhythms

of

two

lives

for

five,

short

moments,

all

of

them

narrated

in

Twyla's

own

voice.

The

story

is,

then,

in

several

way

s,

Twyla's

“recitatif.”

'Recitatif'

was

an

experiment

in

the

removal

of

all

racial

codes from a narrative about two characters of different races for whom racial identity

is crucial,

Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and

the Literary Imagination

.

First

let

us

learn

something

about

the

author.

Toni

Morrison

was

born

Chloe

Anthony

Wofford

to

George

and

Rahmah

Wofford

in

1931.

The

second

of

four

children, Morrison was raised in the small Ohio town of Lorain in a tight-knit black

community.

Morrison

describes

her

father,

a

shipyard

welder,

as

a

racist.

Having

experienced virulent racism, he despised whites. Her mother, on the other hand, was

an integrationist. Both of her parents and her larger community instilled in Morrison a

strong sense of self- esteem and cultural identity.

Though

she

had

no

aspirations

of

being

a

writer

in

her

youth,

Morrison

was

always

an

avid

reader

and

a

precocious

student.

Her

imagination

was

further

1

美国文学

结业论文

nourished

by

the

folk

stories

passed

down

from

her

parents

and

grandmother.

She

attended Lorain High School and went on to Howard University, a historically black

college.

Next

l

et’s

learn

some

information

about

characters;

James

Benson

is

Twyla's

husband. He is a native of Newburgh, the town where the later part of the story takes

place. He is

and continuity that Twyla's history lacks. Joseph Benson is Twyla and James's son.

Twyla

becomes

an

activist

in

the

busing

controversy

when

Joseph

is

bused

out

of

district in order to ensure racial integration in the schools. Twyla is the main character

and

the

story's

narrator.

She

was

raised,

in

part,

at

an

orphanage

—

not

because

her

parents were dead, but because her mother chose or needed to

was thus unable to care for her. The fact that Twyla lacks mothering is central to her

character. She marries into a stable, rooted family and becomes a mother herself. It is

in this capacity that she becomes involved in the controversy over racial integration in

the schools and gets

into a conflict

with

Roberta, a friend from

the orphanage with

whom she has recently become reacquainted.

Twyla

is

characterized

throughout

the

story

in

terms

of

her

relationship

to

Roberta, which is often one of contrast. As in their divide over the busing crisis, these

contrasts are based around the central issue of their racial difference. Despite the fact

that

Twyla

and

Roberta

are

of

different

races

and

also,

as

the

story

progresses,

different

economic

classes,

there

are

underlying

similarities

and

shared

experiences

—

particularly

their

relationships

to

their

respective

mothers

—

that

suggest

the

possibility of understanding and friendship. However, the events of the story illustrate

that

this

possibility

is

precarious

due

to

the

social

and

cultural

pressures

that

discourage

interracial

friendship.

Maggie

works

at

the

kitchen

of

St.

Bonny’s,

the

orphanage

where

Twyla

and

Roberta

meet.

She

is

mute

and

bowlegged

and

was

herself raised in an institution.

One of Twyla’s strongest memories of St. Bonny’s is

an

incident

where

Maggie

fell

down

in

the

school’s

orchard.

Twyla

remembers

the

intimidating

older

girls

from

the

orphanage

laughing

at

Maggie

and

that

she

and

Roberta

did

nothing

to

help

her.

But

during

their

argument

over

the

busing

2