Introduction
Playing with the reader’s assumptions, subverting them, and using stereotypes to achieve a particular effect is a technique that may have been in postmodern writers’ toolkit since the beginning of the literary movement. Effectively, this cunning play with the reader’s expectations is one of its distinctive features. Toni Morrison joined the postmodernist literary culture at the time when it was still predominantly white and man-centric. The scale of the changes that have happened since that time may be debatable; nevertheless, Toni Morrison pushed the boundaries of writing circles with her socially poignant works. Recitatif belongs to the array of the author’s progressive writing heritage. Therefore, this short story is experimental and employs postmodernist writing techniques to reveal to the readers their thinking patterns that may be based on clichés.
Main body
Researchers’ attention has been focused on the relationships between ethnicities and classes in Recitatif – this much may be said about a decent percentage of Toni Morrison’s writing heritage. The characteristic that makes this short story stand out among Morrison’s other works is its novelty, which is expressed in the descriptions of the two main characters or rather the intentional avoidance of certain of them. Virtually, Recitatif may be named as one of the writer’s most experimental works (Warhol and Shuman 1009). Morrison engages readers in a game offering them to guess to which ethnicities Twyla Benson and Roberta Fisk belong based on a series of situations that could trigger a certain stereotype. When the last words of Recitatif are read, it becomes apparent that this is a game, where no one is a winner: Morrison does not offer a clear response.
The lack of response regarding the characters’ ethnicities is a statement in itself. In order to achieve this effect, Morrison incorporates a number of misleading clues in her work. For instance, even in the very beginning, the reasons behind the girls’ stay in the orphanage may push readers to assume their ethnicities. Twyla’s mother works long shifts as a dancer and thus is not capable of providing sufficient care for her daughter. On the other hand, Roberta finds herself in the orphanage because of her mother’s illness. Hamdan states that “representation of Twyla’s and Roberta’s mothers as “dancing” or “sick” creates a baffling atmosphere of racial uncertainty as it undermines the unconscious process of classifying mothers on the medical basis of physical well-being or infirmity” (2). This ethnical categorization based on mobility or disability unveils the ingrained in North American discourse assumption of white bodies being “able” and the black ones being “diseased.”
The arbitrarily of ethnic identities is emphasized further when the character of Maggie is introduced. It may be said that her function within the short story is symbolic: the girl is a textual embodiment of the idea of the ambivalence of racial identity. The desire to establish Maggie’s ethnicity preoccupies Twyla and Roberta as they cannot decide whether the girl is black or not: Roberta states that she is black, while Twyla is not so sure. Furthermore, Maggie serves as a vessel for the girls’ shame and resentment: the girl’s crooked legs attract attention from other orphanage dwellers that leads to attacks and ridicules (Warhol and Shuman 1018). In Twyla’s case, Maggie reminds her of her disabled mother, and the lack of maternal love brings out in Twyla anger, which she directs at Maggie, a substitute for it. In this way, the ambiguity of Maggie’s ethnicity is the crucial component in understanding her role within the text, as her character may establish further that identities are, to a certain degree, social constructs.
Moreover, cultural codes also play a role in directing the reader’s suggestions and revealing the stereotypical aspects of their perception (Khaoula 88). Roberta’s unawareness of Jimi Hendrix’s popularity, and him being Twyla’s idol at the time may force readers to make assumptions about the girls’ identities, which could potentially contradict their previous ones. Ignorance of each other’s cultural codes suggests a clear distinction between the worlds of the two characters. This seemingly small difference leads to a clash of interests between Twyla and Roberta. On the whole, cultural codes are inserted in the narrative to demonstrate in more detail the idea that racial identity is arbitrary.
In Recitatif, the writer reveals the perceived importance of race by conveying signs that could potentially act as signifiers of blackness or whiteness. Nevertheless, Morrison does not include a physical description that would be too direct. The author centers the readers’ attention on cultural indices that are less telling but are suggestive enough to propel readers in a specific thinking direction. Warhol and Shuman explain that “once all those markers of race are absent from a story where racial difference is the main complication producing the plot, the reader is left with a consciousness of her racism” (1012). Recitatif may evoke a sense of confusion when a reader concentrates on deciphering the misleading clues, which are only enhanced by rereading the short story since the same reading method is not able to relieve the disarray.
The short story succeeds in disclosing to what degree readers depend on stereotypes to construct their visions of a character and understand the characters’ net of relationships and their place among others. Moreover, Recitatif raises this unconscious process to the surface of readers’ consciousness, making them aware of their possible presumptions. Seemingly, Morrison suggests her readers examine their minds for beliefs that may be harmful to various social groups and identities. In this way, when Twyla and Roberta first meet, they notice how much in common they have; for instance, they both feel intentionally abandoned by their parents, unlike the children whose parents died. This experience unites the girls and shows that universal human experience is able to overpower social differences since it is only by interacting with the world outside their friendships that Twyla and Roberta learn to see each other as “different.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, Recitatif is viewed by a number of researchers as a puzzle that thrives on readers’ confusion – ambiguous in the manifestation of race in order to show arbitrarily of racial identity and its constituents (Khaoula 89). By never telling which girl belongs to which ethnic group, the conflicts that emerge between Roberta and Twyla may be ascribed to a different source, for example, their socio-economic statuses. Accordingly, this short story may be rightfully named as one of the most experimental pieces of writing among Toni Morrison’s works. The writer uses postmodernist writing methods and applies them to racial issues. Intrinsic uncertainty and blurring of the deep-seated identity facets make Recitatif a postmodernist text in one of its aspects; however, its focus on social criticism does not allow it to be truly so.
References
Hamdan, Mohammed. “Mobility and Disability in Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif”: An Anti‑Racial Reading of “Dancing” and “Sick” Bodies”. The Explicator, no. 77, 2019, pp. 119–123.
Khaoula, Chakour. “Racial Politics in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat”, Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif”, and James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues””. Studies in Literature and Language, vol. 17, no. 1, 2018, pp. 86–90.
Morrison, Toni. “Recitatif”. Confirmation: An Anthology of African American Women by Amiri Baraka and Amina Baraka, Quill, 1983, pp. 275-292.
Warhol, Robyn, and Shuman, Amy. “The unspeakable, the unnarratable, and the repudiation of epiphany in “Recitatif”: a collaboration between linguistic and literary feminist narratologies”. Textual Practice, vol. 32, no. 6, 2018, pp. 1007–1025.