Recitatif

I enjoyed this story very much. I love what Toni Morrison did with the ambiguity of the race of the characters. It really brings out the point that you do not need to know the race of the characters, all you need to know is that they are best friends and loyal to one another even though the color of their skin is different. Also the ambiguity forces the reader to use the stereotypes described to make an assumption about the characters. This makes one conscious of how prominent stereotypes are and just how wrong they can be. We never know which character is white and which one is black even with the stereotypical assumptions and it shows us that stereotypes are just generalities and that either one of these characters, no matter their race, can be going through what the other one is going through. Regardless of race, they are very much alike. Personally, at the end of the story i concluded that Roberta was white and Twyla was black. It would have been very unlikely for Twyla to be married to an IBM executive in that period of time and she would not have been called a bigot. Also, Roberta’s mother refused to shake Twyla’s hand. On the other hand, it is never clarified which one is white and which one is black so WHO KNOWS?!