Toni Morrison : Recitatif & Racial Identities Revisited - Essay Example

English April 2, Topic: Toni Morrison – Recitatif & Racial Identities Revisited: Toni Morrison's 'Recitatif.' Introduction As the reader, one has enough mental exercises to engage in and be on the analytical mode throughout, while reading Recitatif by Toni Morrison. She throws the challenge to the reader from the outset and takes one to the unchartered paths as for the subject of racism. Its enigmatic plot, intelligent use of the language, and the storyline demand the concentrated and critical appreciation of the reader. The textual elements are innovative and the reader is alerted to derive meaning out of the explanations on racism and one feels that the story pursues the questions and answers strategy, full of arguments and counterarguments. Can the two races walk together? Is the unity of hearts ever possible between the blacks and whites? Without being judgmental Toni Morrison argues that racism may not exist in the articles of the Constitution of America, but in terms of societal dispositions, its impact is still evident in all segments of the American society. Racism baffles definition and each one sees it in a different perspective. Without mention of a verbal utterance, racial slur may show its presence even in gestures. Racial dynamics is highlighted at its best in the story. The story concludes with the question, ‘‘What the hell happened to Maggie?” (Morrison 2698) puts the reader for resolution of the issue and the author stands apart. An undercurrent of racial element is seen in the import of this expression, the nostalgic memory of Maggie, evokes instant sympathy. One recalls the plight of this mute woman who works in the kitchen in the orphanage where the story’s two main characters Roberta and Twyla, are being brought up. American racial history is studded with racial conflicts, in both violent and subtle acts of day to day disposition. For a sensitive black individual such subtle taunts and expressions with dual meaning hurt more. With the characterisation of Maggie and these two women Toni Morrison provides the graphic description of the race trends obtaining in America. Maggie’s role is like the mute witness in the eternal proceedings in a court of law on the topic of racism. The undefined childhood memory relates to Maggie figuratively and literally turns out to be the conflict zone between the friendship of Twyla and Roberta. This is the intrinsic worth of the story. Gender takes the backseat in the narrations. Both the protagonists are female. Their meeting place is a home for the female, St. Bonny’s orphanage, and no one but the females reside there. An insignificant looking incident that takes place to which both the girls are eye-witnesses, proves to be the constant irritation to their psyche, perspectives of their reasoning, and in brief, to their future lives. Both of them do not have the correct understanding about Maggie, and have no contact with her after leaving the orphanage. What haunts them is the memory of bowlegged Maggie falling down on the street, while making efforts to catch the bus in a hurry. The issue of Maggie’s accidental fall comes to the fore and becomes the topic of discussion and attains new sociological dimensions, every time the girls happen to meet one another in adulthood. Maggie does not interact directly in the story; she is just the memory of both the former occupants of the orphanage. She is the symbol around which their companionship and perspectives in life evolve. The life of Maggie, her trials and tribulations in the falling incident, has direct bearing on their similarities and differences. Toni Morrison’s effort to deconstruct racism and her invitation to the reader in the process of deconstruction is the important strategy of the story. From this point of view the quality of the story is distinctively “oral.” Its mission is to demystify racism. As Twyla and Roberts disagree about the merits of the incident in the orchard, the reader is right there with his own mental analysis of the incident and is obliged to connect it to the prevailing state of racism in America. This disagreement makes Twyla to reach out to her inner world and she wonders whether her memory is deceiving her. The orchard becomes the symbol of their silent conflicts, agreements and disagreements. Twyla’s first reference to the orchard is thus: “I don’t know why I dreamt about the orchard so much. Nothing really happened there. Nothing all that important, I mean,” (Morrison 2686). This remark indicates her confusion and inner turmoil and lack of self-trust. She seems to be in a weak position to face the reality of the incident involving Maggie’s fall. With the depiction of the orchard incident Morrison targets racism in style and mounts a stronger attack on the grave issue by describing further sociological implications of the incident. For the purpose in view she has not taken recourse to male-female conflict, and discusses the issue in an all-female situation. Gender is back grounded in the story. With this self-conscious literary experiment Morrison, has pinpointed how racism is still a grave issue, even after unmasking labels of gender. Race is a powerful factor that influences individual reactions in every segment of the society in all small and big situations. The theme of the story that assumes importance at this stage of the story is Maggie’s humiliation which in reality is clubbed with the humiliation of all those who are present there when the incident takes place. While narrating it, Twyla brings into the picture the nature element as well to state that hundreds of apple trees and being “fat with flowers.”(2686) At the time of Maggie’s fall, the older, intimidating girls are busy dancing to the tune of the radio there. The attitude of the older girls reminds one of the old boys/girls ragging the junior fresher in colleges. Both the girls watch the fall of Maggie helplessly, with an attitude of guilt, without going to her rescue, for the simple reason that they dare not, as they are frightened of the seniors. Twyla’s reaction to the incident is, “We should have helped her up, I know, but we were scared of those girls,” (Morrison 2686). Recollecting the past, Twyla thinks that the attitude of the older girls should have been challenged, instead of falling in line with their attitudes. But the hierarchal power plays its part and they join them to victimize Maggie, as they do not wish to remain powerless and voiceless like Maggie. They take sides with the oppressor instead of coming to the rescue of the oppressed. Other vicissitudes of life bring the girls close, notwithstanding their racial differences. They are the victimisers as far as is Maggie is concerned, and the wise saying ‘two heads are better than one,’ applies in their cases. They draw strength from the association of each other. They are left at the Orphanage for different reasons, and their parents are not dead. But both experience the pain of abandonment and this is one of the reasons why they are bonded to each other. From this stage onwards Toni Morrison explains through the gradual and inevitable stages of transformation that takes place in the lives of friends, over which they have no control to stall it. The dividing line becomes more and more thick. Both later recall their meeting at a dinner at “Howard Johnson’s” and it is much less warm. The racial avalanche has begun to advance and Twyla is on the retreat. Roberta specially admits that the racial divide of black and white exists. In Newburgh, the two women live in separate sections in a racially segregated community and they now belong to different, distinct socio-economic classes. In her article, “Racial Identities Revisited: Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif,” Marie Knoflickova argues, “This stereotypical differentiation is then shaken in the next episode, when the girls meet at a supermarket several years later. Twyla still lives in Newburgh with her husband, one son and parents-in-law. Roberta, however, got married to a rich IBM executive and spiraled from the bottom of the social ladder to its top. Here Morrison deconstructs the myth of the multigenerational African American family and the impossibility of the upward mobility of African American people.” (27-28) Twyla is married to a fireman. Toni Morrison takes the story to the ultimate confrontation at the political level. The town is divided on account of the bussing controversy. Racial and economic differences between the friends surface to the open. Twyla is the advocate for bussing and Roberta is the staunch opponent. This is the bigger version of the confrontation about what happens to Maggie years ago. Twyla argues with Roberta who is on picketing, and a large number of people surround Twyla’s car and begin to attack it with stones. Twyla also responds aggressively. The hierarchies are comparable but their dimension has taken the giant leap. At the Orphanage it is intimidation and powerlessness of a few individuals. The ultimate sufferer is just one individual, the poor old Maggie. In the bussing scene, the conflict is societal and it relates to race. Race is not a factor when they are children, and in the Orphanage they have a common cause of grudge against the neglect of their mothers and both of them give vent to their feelings against the poor helpless Maggie, but as they grow, the complications of the race turn out to be major issues that affect their individual harmonious relations. Mary Madden in her article “Necessary Narratives: Toni Morison and Literary Identities,” argues that “Morrison’s fiction challenges not only stereotypes within categories of identity but the categories themselves, and not only for race but also for gender. Yet in “Recitatif,” a self-conscious literary experiment in unmasking labels, Morrison focuses on race to the exclusion of gender.”(586-587) The style in which Morrison creates a mute character such as Maggie to make her the symbol to draft a lengthy questionnaire relating to racial fissures that divide Roberta and Twyla is admirable handling of the race relations and connected problems. Conclusion: Toni Morrison through the story “Recitatif,” shows how brittle are the racial relationships and how weak are the processes that hold both the races together. At the personal levels, all seems to be well, but when the social, economic and other divisive issue come to the fore, racism with its ugly face surfaces and destroys the benevolence in human relationships. Not enactment of laws, but eyes full of understanding and hearts full of love can meet the challenge of racism. Works Cited Morrison, Toni. “Recitatif.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature Volume E. 7th ed. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton & Company, 2007. 2684-98. Knofliokova, Marie. Racial Identities Revisited: Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif.” Madden, Mary. Necessary Narratives: Toni Morrison and Literary Identities. Women’s Studies International Forum 18.5—6(1995): 585-94 Read More