How We Come to Conclusions

In the short story Recitatif by Toni Morrison, there are two female characters, Twyla and Roberta, whose racial identities remain ambiguous; one is white and one is black, but Morrison never actually stamps either of the girls with either race. Morrison keeps her reader guessing about Twyla and Roberta's race by attributing very ambiguous traits to both characters, such as their views on racial tensions, intelligence, and physical appearance. In addition to these ambiguous traits, Morrison also attributes each character with a few traits that can be loosely linked to vague stereotypes that people may attribute to the black or white race, such as physical appearance again, wealth, and class. Based upon both loose and ambiguous racial stereotypes, readers will most likely unconsciously racially classify Roberta and Twyla. By imparting ambiguous racial stereotypes upon Twyla and Roberta, Morrison hopes to make her readers realize that their unconscious racial conclusions are based solely on socially constructed stereotypes.

Everyone, racist or not, makes judgments on how a person may or should act, "In our society, one of the first things we notice about people when we encounter them (along with their sex/gender) is their race. We utilize race to provide clues about who a person is and how we should relate to her/him" (Omi), and this process is "...often unconscious; we tend to operate off of an unexamined set of racial beliefs" (Omi). Morrison tries to make people aware of their judgments by reversing the process; she prompts her reader to come to a conclusion about each character's race based upon stereotypes about the white or black race. The only statement that Morrison makes about the races of Twyla and Roberta is that they are not of the same race. Twyla states early on that she was "to be stuck in a strange place with a girl from a whole other race" (Morrison) and that Roberta and her "looked like salt and pepper..." (Morrison). Morrison never states the races of either Twyla or Roberta, but rather describes the two girls using stereotypes that society may apply to white people, black people, and sometimes even both. Before the end of the story the reader will have unconsciously decided a race for both Twyla and Roberta, but at the end of the story, Morrison makes her readers rethink their unconscious decisions about the girls' races.

Other than stating that Twyla and Roberta are in fact from different races, Morrison is extremely vague and ambiguous when describing them. Roberta is described early in the story with a negative stereotype when Twyla's mother, Mary, tells Twyla that "they never washed their hair and they smelled funny, Roberta sure did. Smell funny, I mean" (Morrison); depending on what Morrison's readers stereotype smelliness with, this sign, which can apply to a person of any race, leads them to start placing Roberta in a racial category that they link to smelliness. Roberta's mother is also described in a racially ambiguous way. "She was big. Bigger than any man and on her chest was the biggest cross I'd ever seen. I swear it was six inches long each way. And in the crook of her arm was the biggest bible ever made" (Morrison). Roberta, like her mother, is also described in a way that leads the reader to believe she is an African American woman, "Her own hair was so big and wild I could hardly see her face... and earrings the size of bracelets" (Morrison). This passage about Roberta and her mother leads the reader to automatically assume that they are African American women, but after some consideration, I realize that their descriptions can pass for a woman of any other race just as well; especially after reading the much more stereotypical signs that hint that Roberta is actually white and leaving Twyla as the black girl of the story.

One of the most common stereotypes about whites and blacks has to do with wealth and social status; supposedly, white people relate to upper class families while black people relate to a lower working class that is not as wealthy. Morrison therefore utilizes wealth and social status as her main tools to make her readers assume that Roberta is white and Twyla is black. The first scenario that this is apparent in is when the two girls have lunch with their mothers. Each mother is supposed to bring food to the orphanage to have lunch with their daughters, but Twyla's mother Mary, "didn't bring anything. So we picked fur and cellophane grass off the mashed Jelly beans and ate them" (Morrison). Roberta's mother on the other hand, brought a whole feast of "chicken legs, and ham sandwiches, and oranges, and a whole box of chocolate-covered grahams. Roberta drank milk from a thermos..." (Morrison). This economic divide between the mothers of Twyla and Roberta tempts the reader to assume that Roberta must be the white one of the two since her mother can afford to bring food while Twyla and her mother are left eating dirty jelly beans. In another scene later on in the lives of Twyla and Roberta, they meet at Twyla's diner where she works as a waitress. Waitresses can usually be classified as a lower class job and although there are waitresses of both white and black races, in this case, Twyla is the one working as a waitress while Roberta is on a road trip with two men, "...on our way to the Coast. He's got an appointment with Hendrix" (Morrison). Considering the popularity of Jimi Hendrix, the reader may assume that Roberta must belong to at least a high-middle class to be able to afford travelling to a one of Hendrix's concerts. The economic divide between the two women also shows after they have settled down with a family. Twyla is married to a low class family by the way she describes them, "Half of the population of Newburgh is on welfare now, but to my husband's family it was still some upstate paradise..." (Morrison). Roberta on the other hand, is living a luxurious life and there are many signs that show it, such as the way she dresses, "Diamonds on her hand, a smart white summer dress" (Morrison), the way she shops for "fancy water" (Morrison) over regular water, her access to two servants and a "dark blue limousine" (Morrison) and how she was fortunate enough to marry a man who lived in Annandale, "a neighborhood full of doctors and IBM executives" (Morrison). The enormous class and economic divides between Roberta and Twyla are leading factors in the reader's decision concerning Roberta and Twyla's race.

Another important factor of racial classification is the attitude of Roberta and Twyla towards each other and racial issues. The way Roberta's mother acts when first meeting Twyla's mother shows that she regards Twyla and her mother as inferior, as Twyla's mother gestures for a handshake, "Roberta's mother looked down at me and then looked down at Mary too. She didn't say anything, just grabbed Roberta with her bible-free hand and stepped out of line, walking quickly to the rear of it" (Morrison). The reactions of Twyla and Roberta to the desegregation of public schools can also be an indicator of their races. Historically, African Americans were the ones to push for desegregation while white people were the ones to oppose it. Twyla seems to be positive about the desegregation, "Joseph was on the list of kids to be transferred from the junior high school to another one at some far-out-of-the-way place and I thought it was a good thing until I heard it was a bad thing" (Morrison). Roberta on the other hand, is actively protesting against the desegregation movement.

Near the end of the story, due to the numerous signs hinting that Roberta is white and Twyla is black, the reader will have unconsciously come to the conclusion that Morrison wants: Roberta is white and Twyla is black. However, that conclusion alone is useless. Morrison wants her reader to realize that they unconsciously come to racial conclusions based purely on stereotypes; to help fulfill this realization she uses the minor character Maggie. Maggie, like Roberta and Twyla, is also a character whose race is unknown. Her only physical description is that she is "old and sandy colored... her legs like parentheses" (Morrison). While there are many subtle signs of Maggie's race, the only important part of her race is that Roberta thinks that Maggie is black and Twyla thinks the exact opposite, "What was she saying? Black? Maggie wasn't black" (Morrison). Maggie's race being the opposite of Twyla and Roberta's races, assuming that the reader concludes that Twyla is black and Roberta is white, is important because the girls seem as if they would not have kicked Maggie if she were of the same race. Roberta admits to kicking Maggie, "'...and you kicked her. We both did. You kicked a black lady who couldn't even scream" (Morrison) and Twyla only disagrees that Maggie is not black, saying nothing about the act of kicking her. This prompts the reader to believe that Twyla is morally fine about kicking a white person, but not a black person, and that Roberta is morally fine with kicking a black person, but not a white person. Maggie is thus another sign that Twyla is black and Roberta is white. Towards the very end of Recitatif, Morrison uses Maggie to crash the reader's perception of the races of Twyla and Roberta by questioning the race of Maggie, "'Listen to me. I really did think she was black. I didn't make that up. I really thought so. But now I can't be sure'" (Morrison). By this point in the story, the readers will have unconsciously come to a conclusion about the race of Twyla and Roberta; chances are their conclusion will be that Twyla is black and Roberta is white, based on socially constructed racial stereotypes. Through questioning the race of Maggie, Morrison hopes to make her reader rethink their conclusions about the races of each character in Recitatif.

Morrison's ultimate goal in Recitatif is to make her reader conscious of their unconscious conclusions of a person's race based on stereotypes through the use of ambiguous signs that Twyla and Roberta display. By skillfully using ambiguous signs in the beginning to make her reader want to fill in the void of the races of Twyla and Roberta, Morrison makes her readers very susceptible to her stronger signs of wealth and class stereotypes, and racial attitude stereotypes to make her reader decide on the race of Twyla and Roberta. She does this without using any detail that can give away the race of Twyla and Roberta. After having her readers conclude the race of Twyla and Roberta, Morrison allows her readers to rethink their racial conclusions by using Maggie to destroy the racial constructs that they have developed from racial stereotypes and signs. In the final words of Recitatif, "Oh shit, Twyla. Shit, shit, shit. What the hell happened to Maggie" (Morrison), Morrison collapses the racial constructs that the reader has built throughout the story. I realize after treading that quote that I unconsciously came to the conclusion that Twyla is black and Roberta is white without ever having read a solid clue as to what their races are. I can come to this subconscious decision by basing my racial conclusion purely on societal stereotypes such that white people will generally be wealthier than black people and have a certain views about racial issues that differ from black people. Recitatif does an incredible job at making its readers realize that a lot of their racial constructs are based solely on racial stereotypes and signs; even though the United States may not be as racist as it were before, stereotyping and ideology still plays an unconscious role in everyday life.

Works Cited

Morrison, Toni. Recitatif.

Omi, Michael. "In Living Color: Race and American Culture." Signs of Life. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006. 549-559.