Toni Morrison And Recitatif English Literature Essay

Toni Morri discussion And Recitatif English Literature EssayIt is the intention of this paper to come across at Toni Morrison as a writer and how she expressed her political views through fiction. The go around story by Ms. Morrison Recitatif, written in 1983, will be utilize as an drill of her writing. This short was pulled for this paper from a collection of short stories found in the book Worlds of fictionalization (2nd ed.) co-authored by Roberta Rubenstein and Charles R. Larson (2002, pp. 600-612). A biographical perspective will be implied in this paper merely not form every(prenominal)y addressed.First this paper will give a brief summary of Toni Morrisons biography, including literary awards. Second a summarization of Ms. Morrisons short story Recitatif. This paper will take a critical view of this story from a feminist, a racial, and a historical perspective.Toni Morrison born(p) in 1931, her given name was Chloe Anthony Wofford. Ms. Morrison, the second oldest of fou r sibling was raised in a working-class black family, in Lorain, Ohio. Ms. Morrison attended Howard and Cornell Universities. She has taught at Texas southerly University, Howard University, and Yale. Since 1989, she holds a chair at Princeton University (Sture, 1997, para 1). Among the some(prenominal) awards for literature that have been take upowed on Ms. Morrison, argon the National Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer intrude for legend and Noble Prize for Literature. She was the first African American to ever receive a Noble Prize for Literature (Rubenstein and Larson, 2002, p 599). Ms. Morrison list of accomplishments is impressive by any whizzs standards.She has been a publish author since 1970. Ms. Morrison has published seven novels, several children books, and academic texts. Recitatif is one of her few short stories ever published. In a quote from Toni Morrison about this story she stated, The best art is political and you ought to be able to make unquestionably polit ically and irrevocably scenic at the analogous time (Rubenstein and Larson, 2002, p 599). She has be get by the articulate for the Black American experience.The short story Recitatif is narrated in first person. My experience jumpd all night and Robertas was sick. (Morrison, 1983, p. 600) is the opening line of the story and sets the tone of the story. It is a report of how two viii year old girls meet in an orphanage and why they became friends. Both girls struggle in school and have an unusual betrothal of their circumstances. It is the friendship between the two girls that makes living in the orphanage bearable.Throughout the beginning of the story Twyla, the storyteller of the story, refers to all the things in life that make herself little than everyone else. Both Twyla and Roberta are one of the few children in the orphanage that genuinely have parents. They are not there because their parents have died, like the rest of children, but because their drives cant take care of them. This is the glue that binds the two girls together.The narrator of the story recalls a softenicular day when the two girls are watching the older girls dance in the fields, but on this particular day one of the woman from the kitchen cuts through the field to catch the last bus home. She is physically disabled and dampen the older girls start to taunt the woman. They call her names and knock her to ground. The two young girls just stand and witness the injustice.The second significant thing the narrator recalls is the Easter Sunday when both of their mothers come to visit. She is so excited to introduce her mother to her best friend. When her mother finally arrives for church service she is embarrassed by the instruction her mother is dressed and by how loud she speaks. When she finally can introduce her mom to Robertas mom, Robertas mom grabs Robertas hand and she rushes away from her and her mom.The story fast ship in time. Twyla is a young adult working as waitr ess. One day Roberta comes into the restaurant with two young men on her way to forgather a concert. This is the first time Twyla has seen Roberta since she left the orphanage. Twyla tries to talk with Roberta but is blown off.Twelve years later the two blend into each other once more at the store. This time Roberta wants to catch up with Twyla. Twyla is married with a son of her own in school. She finds out so is Roberta. Both of their sons are about the same age. The major difference at this time is Roberta is rich and Twyla is of the working class. Roberta accuses Twyla of having taken part in the incident with the kitchen worker (Maggie) twenty years before. This makes her question her reality. They part on a cold note.Several months later, the two women find themselves on opposite side of fence -on school integration. Twyla did not like how far her son was going to have to travel to go school but was okay with him attending a new high school. Roberta was absolutely appalled a t the inclination of her son being integrated into a school on the other side of town. Both mothers picketed each other and the school. The picketing last six weeks and then the children are sent back to school. After it all over the two women run into each other once again. Roberta confesses to Twyla that they never kicked the mute woman. The two women end with. Did I ever tell my mother never stopped dancing? And Roberta replied Yes. You told me. Mine, she never got well. Crying Roberta says, Whatever happened to Maggie. (Morrison, 1983, p612) This is still the glue that binds the two women together.The writer never actually gives any specific dates when the events in the story take place. She uses social clues to let us fill in the time period the events take place. During the visit of Twylas mother to orphanage, Twyla reflects how she was embarrassed her mother would wear pants to church (Morrison, 1983, p 601). In the nineteen fifties women began to wear pants instead of dress es and skirts all the time. It was still a social faux pa to wear slacks to church. This would lead to the embarrassment of Twyla over her mothers loud pants.Another time reference in the story is eight years later when Twyla is waitress in at Howard Johnson. When she tries to speak with Roberta, she is told they are on their way to see Jimmy Hendrix in concert. Jimmy Hendrix died of a medicate overdose on September 17th 1970 (Morrison, 1983, p604). Therefore one could safely assume the meeting happened in the sixties.Two months after the girls meet 12yrs later they run into each other during a protest over busing students to integrate the school (Morrison, 1983, p608). It was in 1954, that the US Supreme court ruled that equal but specialize was not constitutional. In 1965, US Supreme court ruled busing was a legal solution to desegregate public schools. During the 1970s and into the early eighties many schools adopted busing plans to integrate the public schools. This was time o f great change and many mothers protested busing their children to a different neighborhood to attend school. This is the historical account that sets up the circumstance for Toni Morrisons RecitatifRecitatif is the story of two women one black and one white. From the very beginning of the story the reader can pick up on racial clues and come to this conclusion. The one thing omitted in this story is which one white and which one is black. This where the readers own racial prejudices may come in. On page 600, the seventh divide it states we looked like salt and pepperand thats what the other kids called us (Morrison, 1983) Although this is not the first clue this the most obvious clue to the race of the two girls. The author advisedly leaves out the racial identity of both girls. She is challenging the reader to follow her clues throughout the story. The readers own racial biases may influence which girl they perceive as being black or white.There are several references to the fa ct that Roberta is actually black.In the very being as Twyla is recalling their first encounter she mentions her mother warning her that, they never wash their hair and smell funny. Roberta sure did. Smell funny, I mean. (para 2) One of the things the author does to challenge the readers racial prejudices is Twyla is the insecure one of the two. She is the one who feels less than the other children. It is Twylas mother that is snubbed by Robertas mom. It is also Roberta, who does not want her child shipped across town to attend a different school than his friends. It is Twyla who becomes anger that Roberta would not want her son to attend a school that her son attended. It is through excluding their racial identity that the reader can see what preconceived ideas they brought into the story.From a feminist point of view the story is told only from a female perspective. All the characters of significance in the story are female. It was an all girls orphanage with all female staff. Ne ither Twyla nor Roberta has a father. Both women get married and have sons. Neither the husbands nor the sons are ever actually introduced in any significant way to the story. It is in this fashion that Toni Morrison can actually tell the story without gender bias. (Goldstein-Shirley, 1999, pp 99-101) Leaving out any conflict between men and women she is able to scorn a gender bias allowing room only for racial prejudice brought to the story by the reader.David Goldstein-Shirley gathered schooling from 67 college students. The questionnaire reflected the readers force to pick up racial cues and their personal views. 6 of the 67 students did not pick up on any of the racial clues in the story. These were the exception not the norm. The other 58 students were able to pick up on racial cues given in the story and add personal experience not written but implied to the story. The entropy provided that it was personal experiences that reader brought to the story and integrated into th e story rather than an influences based on gender or demographics (1999, pp 106-107). The cultivation showed the results that were intended by Ms. Morrison.Toni Morrison used her short story Recitatif to show an author could write a political statement and engage the reader at the same time to take a look at their own racial prejudices on the issue. Her experiment to remove racial identity from the characters of story and to remove gender bias was a great undertaking. The study by David Goldstein-Shirley was proof that Toni Morrison completed her task with great success.Recitatif was a perfect blend of in Ms. Morrisons own words unquestionably political and irrevocably beautiful at the same time (Rubenstein and Larson, 2002, p 599). Toni Morrison stayed true to the historical times of the setting, the racial times of the setting, and all from a completely feminist point of view.Annotated BibliographyGoldstein-Shirley, D. (1999), Chapter 7- scat/Gender Toni Morrisons RecitatifWomen on the edge ethnicity and gender in short stories by American womenRetrieved February 15, 2010, fromhttp//books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0CHYPERLINK http//books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falseHYPERLINK http//books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falselpg=PA97HYPERLINK http//books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falseHYPERLINK http//books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falseots=fSdm0pfKpXHYPERLINK http//books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf= falseHYPERLINK http//books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falsedq=toni%20morrison%20recitatif%20themesHYPERLINK http//books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falseHYPERLINK http//books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falselr=HYPERLINK http//books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falseHYPERLINK http//books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falsepg=PA98v=onepageHYPERLINK http//books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recita tif themeslr=pg=PA98v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falseHYPERLINK http//books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falseq=toni%20morrison%20recitatif%20themesHYPERLINK http//books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falseHYPERLINK http//books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falsef=falseMr. Goldstein-Shirley poled 67 college students who had read the short story Recitatif. He documented the readers ability to pick up on the racial cues given by the author in the story. He broke this information down by gender and demographics.Morrison, T. (1983), Recitatif, Worlds of Fiction (2nd ed. 2002).Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice Hall.Recitatif by Toni Morrison was pulle d from this collection of short stories.This is short story written in first person about the kinship formed betweentwo young girls and how it impacted the narrator of the story as an adult.This short story was examined in this paper from several differentperspectives.Rubenstein, R. and Larson, C. (2002) Worlds of Fiction (2nd ed. 2002).Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice Hall.This book is a compilation of fiction stories from around the world. ToniMorrisons short story Recitatif is included in this book to maintain a NorthAmerican writer, a perspective of class, a racial or cultural conflict,relationships of women, and youth maturation. The story was pulled from thisbook and the Biography written for this was used in writing the biographicalsummary for this paper.Sture, A (1997), Nobel Lectures, Literature 1991-1995, Singapore World ScientificPublishing Co. Retrieved February 15, 2010, fromhttp//nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1993/morrison-bio.htmlThis site provided a bibliography of the author Toni Morrison. Thisinformation was compiled when Ms. Morrison won the NobelPrize for Literature in 1993 for her novel Beloved. This biography was usedin the biographical summary for this paper.