Recitative
“recitative” is a short story that was published by Toni Morrison. It is the only short story that he has published. The title of this book introduces the style of musical narrative the hovers between ordinary speech and song. This title is used for narrative interludes and dialogue during oratories and operas. In this story, the writer concentrates on the question of racial identity, prejudice and community. Therefore, this paper seeks to discuss my view on which character between Roberta and Twyla was white and who was black, and the reason for my decision.
First, the reader challenged my perception of the race, which made their identity ambiguous. But according to my analysis, I was able to know who was white and who was black. Robert was a white character; this is evident when Twyla says that she was a girl from a whole other race and that they both looked like pepper and salt. Twyla was a black character; this is because from the beginning it was made clear that he was an African American and because the author Toni was a black, he wanted to use the main character to be of the same race as his. Also, the reason I believe Roberta was a white girl, if when Twyla said that everything was so easy on them, for example when acquiring wealth and that they always think they own the whole world. With the challenges the blacks face, then it is so hard to say Roberta was black. On another occasion, Roberta says that it is a free country while claiming her rights to protest while Twyla responds that to her, it is not yet a free country, but someday it will be.
In conclusion, with all these, I decided that Roberta was a white character and Twyla was a black character.