Recitatif
Recitatif is a literary experiment created by our beloved Toni Morrison with a beautiful introduction by Zadie Smith. Morrison used intentional ambiguity about the racial identities of Recitatif’s two main characters, Twyla and Roberta, and challenges readers to confront their own biases and assumptions, forcing a reevaluation of how race influences our understanding of who people are.
The narrative starts at an orphanage and unfolds across several decades, depicting their evolving relationship against significant social and political changes in America. However, Morrison avoids any details that expose which character is Black and which is white, leaving readers to grapple with their prejudices and the societal stereotypes they apply.
“Othering whoever has othered us, in reverse, is no liberation — as cathartic as it may feel. Liberation is liberation: the recognition of somebody in everybody.”
Recitatif also explores themes of horizontal hostility and the hierarchies of power that marginalized groups often navigate. In the story, Twyla and Roberta's interactions are marked by moments of solidarity as well as intense conflict. For instance, when Twyla and Roberta encounter each other during a racially charged protest, their different stances and misunderstandings illustrate how racial and social divisions can create rifts even among those with shared experiences of marginalization.
But, arguably, the most important part of the story is when the girls attack Maggie, a disabled girl at the orphanage, and then reflect on the repressed memories in their adulthood.
Neither of the women can agree on what happened, and instead of reconciling, they point fingers and hyperfocus on Maggie’s race in the same way the reader does throughout the book. These conflicts reflect the world’s obsession with race, which distracts us from underlying power structures that perpetuate oppression beyond it.
Morrison also examines how oppressed people adopt and enforce hierarchies of power to divert attention from their vulnerabilities. These actions may be a survival mechanism, but Zadie Smith highlights that this way of thinking doesn’t destroy the imbalances, but instead, reallocates them.
“Othering whoever has othered us, in reverse, is no liberation — as cathartic as it may feel. Liberation is liberation: the recognition of somebody in everybody,” she wrote.
