Recitatif

The short story Recitatif takes the topic of race and sort of flips it on itself. Toni Morrison creates this story where the race of both the main characters is never explicitly said. Morrison places the characters in situations that test the ethics of the reader into which race they assume each character is. These situations really make the reader step back and realize how stereotypes play a role in how you view the story. For example, the story opens with the two girls meeting in the orphanage. Morrison supplies the reader with only two pieces of information the girl’s names and what their mothers do that placed them in the orphanage. Taking only these two facts with you as you read the story Morrison asks the reader to make some key decisions as they read through the story. It can be read from two different views depending on which race you assign each girl. On the first read-through of the story, the mind selects the race for each girl that it feels is best suited for that character based on the information it was given about that girl’s life during the story. This highlights the stereotypes of a race because it shows you what you unconsciously assume about each race. It is my opinion that Morrison uses this shorty story the only one of which she has ever written as a platform to show what effects stereotypes have had on the unconscious mind. This story really does make you go back and read it again and again searching for justification on why you assigned a race to each character and a new clue pops up every time yet never solves the whole puzzle.