Model Text: “The Space Between the Racial Binary”

The Space Between the Racial Binary^[1]

Toni Morrison in “Recitatif” confronts race as a social construction, where race is not biological but created from human interactions. Morrison does not disclose the race of the two main characters, Twyla and Roberta, although she does provide that one character is black and the other character is white. Morrison emphasizes intersectionality by confounding stereotypes about race through narration, setting, and allusion. We have been trained to ‘read’ race through a variety of signifers, but “Recitatif” puts those signifers at odds.

Twyla is the narrator throughout “Recitatif” where she describes the events from her own point of view. Since the story is from Twyla’s perspective, it allows the readers to characterize her and Roberta solely based on what she mentions. At the beginning of the story Twyla states that “[her] mother danced all night”, which is the main reason why Twyla is “taken to St. Bonny’s” (Morrison 139). Twyla soon finds that she will be “stuck… with a girl from a whole other race” who “never washed [her] hair and [she] smelled funny” (Morrison 139). From Twyla’s description of Roberta’s hair and scent, one could assume that Roberta is black due to the stereotype that revolves around a black individual’s hair. Later on in the story Twyla runs into Roberta at her work and describes Roberta’s hair as “so big and wild” that “[she] could hardly see her face”, which is another indicator that Roberta has Afro-textured hair (Morrison 144). Yet, when Twyla encounters Roberta at a grocery store “her huge hair was sleek” and “smooth” resembling a white woman’s hair style (Morrison 146). Roberta’s hairstyles are stereotypes that conflict with one another; one attributing to a black woman, the other to a white woman. The differences in hair texture, and style, are a result of phenotypes, not race. Phenotypes are observable traits that “result from interactions between your genes and the environment” (“What are Phenotypes?”). There is not a specific gene in the human genome that can be used to determine a person’s race. Therefore, the racial categories in society are not constructed on the genetic level, but the social. Dr. J Craig Venter states, “We all evolved in the last 100,000 years from the same small number of tribes that migrated out of Africa and colonized the world”, so it does not make sense to claim that race has evolved a specific gene and certain people inherit those specific genes (Angier). From Twyla’s narration of Roberta, Roberta can be classified into one of two racial groups based on the stereotypes ascribed to her.

Intersectionality states that people are at a disadvantage by multiple sources of oppressions, such their race and class.  “Recitatif” seems to be written during the Civil Rights Era where protests against racial integration took place. This is made evident when Twyla says, “strife came to us that fall…Strife. Racial strife” (Morrison 150). According to NPR, the Supreme Court ordered school busing in 1969 and went into effect in 1973 to allow for desegregation (“Legacy”). Twyla “thought it was a good thing until she heard it was a bad thing”, while Roberta picketed outside “the school they were trying to integrate” (Morrison 150).  Twyla and Roberta both become irritated with one another’s reaction to the school busing order, but what woman is on which side? Roberta seems to be a white woman against integrating black students into her children’s school, and Twyla suggests that she is a black mother who simply wants best for her son Joseph even if that does mean going to a school that is “far-out-of-the-way” (Morrison 150). At this point in the story Roberta lives in “Annandale” which is “a neighborhood full of doctors and IBM executives” (Morrison 147), and at the same time, Twyla is “Mrs. Benson” living in “Newburgh” where “ half the population… is on welfare…” (Morrison 145). Twyla implies that Newburgh is being gentrified by these “smart IBM people”, which inevitably results in an increase in rent and property values, as well as changes the area’s culture. In America, minorities are usually the individuals who are displaced and taken over by wealthier, middle-class white individuals. From Twyla’s tone, and the setting, it seems that Twyla is a black individual that is angry towards “the rich IBM crowd” (Morrison 146). When Twyla and Roberta are bickering over school busing, Roberta claims that America “is a free country” and she is not “doing anything” to Twyla (Morrison 150). From Roberta’s statements, it suggests that she is a affluent, and ignorant white person that is oblivious to the hardships that African Americans had to overcome, and still face today. Rhonda Soto contends that “Discussing race without including class analysis is like watching a bird fly without looking at the sky…”. It is ingrained in America as the normative that whites are mostly part of the middle-class and upper-class, while blacks are part of the working-class. Black individuals are being classified as low-income based entirely on their skin color. It is pronounced that Twyla is being discriminated against because she is a black woman, living in a low-income neighborhood where she lacks basic resources. For example, when Twyla and Roberta become hostile with one another over school busing, the supposedly white mothers start moving towards Twyla’s car to harass her. She points out that “[my] face[ ] looked mean to them” and that these mothers “could not wait to throw themselves in front of a police car” (Morrison 151). Twyla is indicating that these mothers are privileged based on their skin color, while she had to wait until her car started to rock back and forth to a point where “the four policeman who had been drinking Tab in their car finally got the message and [then] strolled over” (Morrison 151). This shows that Roberta and the mothers protesting are white, while Twyla is a black woman fighting for her resources.  Not only is Twyla being targeted due to her race, but as well her class by protesting mothers who have classified her based on intersectionality.

Intersectionality is also alluded in “Recitatif” based on Roberta’s interests. Twyla confronts Roberta at the “Howard Johnson’s” while working as a waitress with her “blue and white triangle on [her] head” and “[her] hair shapeless in a net” (Morrison 145). Roberta boasts that her friend has “an appointment with Hendrix” and shames Twyla for not knowing Jimi Hendrix (Morrison 145). Roberta begins to explain that “he’s only the biggest” rockstar, guitarist, or whatever Roberta was going to say. It is clear that Roberta is infatuated with Jimi Hendrix, who was an African American rock guitarist. Because Jimi Hendrix is a black musician, the reader could assume that Roberta is also black. At the same time, Roberta may be white since Jimi Hendrix appealed to a plethora of people. In addition, Twyla illustrates when she saw Roberta “sitting in [the] booth” she was “with two guys smothered in head and facial” (Morrison 144). These men may be two white counter culturists, and possible polygamists, in a relationship with Roberta who is also a white. From Roberta’s enthusiasm in Jimi Hendrix it alludes that she may be black or white, and categorized from this interest.

Intersectionality states that people are prone to “predict an individual’s identity, beliefs, or values based on categories like race” (Williams). Morrison chose not to disclose the race of Twyla and Roberta to allow the reader to make conclusions about the two women based on the vague stereotypes Morrison presented throughout “Recitatif”. Narration, setting, and allusion helped make intersectionality apparent, which in turn allowed the readers understand, or see, that race is in fact a social construction. “Recitatif” forces the readers to come to terms with their own racial prejudices.

Works Cited

Angier, Natalie. “Do Races Differ? Not Really, DNA Shows.” The New York Times, 22 Aug. 2000, archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/082200sci-genetics-race.html.

Morrison, Toni. “Recitatif.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Portable 12th edition, edited by Kelly J. Mays, W.W. Norton & Company, 2017, pp. 483 .

“The Legacy of School Busing.” NPR, 30 Apr. 2004, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1853532.

Soto, Rhonda. “Race and Class: Taking Action at the Intersections.” Association of American Colleges & Universities, 1 June 2015, www.aacu.org/diversitydemocracy/2008/fall/soto.

Williams, Steve. “What Is Intersectionality, and Why Is It Important?” Care2, www.care2.com/causes/what-is-intersectionality.html.

“What Are Phenotypes?” 23andMe, www.23andme.com/gen101/phenotype/.

Teacher Takeaways “This essay is a good companion to the same author’s summary essay, ‘Maggie as the Focal Point.’ It has a detailed thesis (the last two sentences of the first paragraph) that give me an idea of the author’s argument and the structure they plan to follow in the essay. This is a good example of the T3 strategy and consequent organization. That said, because this student used the three-part thesis and five-paragraph essay that it encourages, each paragraph is long and dense. I would encourage this student to break up those units into smaller, more digestable pieces, perhaps trying to divide the vague topics (‘narration, setting, and allusion’) into more specific subtopics.”– Professor Wilhjelm