Toni Morrison's Recitatif: Twyla and Roberta's Innocence and Friendship
Recitatif
Isn't it amazing how children seem to be able to see the best in everything? In the short story Recitatif by Toni Morrison, The two main characters become friends as children and it seems that its almost everlasting due to the innocent nature of them meeting. When one is in their adolescent ages it seems that its easier to not ....A child’s innocence makes it easy to befriend someone and as we get older society can hinder us continuing an old friendship or pursuing a new one. Both Twyla and Roberta end up in the same orphanage in similar situations, this makes it easy for them to relate to one another. As children they were too innocent to judge each other by their differences but could only find the similarities. And despite their differences that are obvious such as race and previous upbringing, both children create a codependent relationship. It is not until the girls parents come to visit them that they recognize their differences. Roberta's Mother refuses to shake Twyla’s mother’s hand and this leads to their first conflict. Roberta's mother is not comfortable shaking hands with someone of another race therefore it brings out the fact that the world is not as accepting of their differences. At this point the innocence is lost and reality begins to set in.Before this point...... As the story progresses and time moves forward the reality of the world sets in more and more. There are many distractions like work, class, marriage, and kids that shed light on many differences that were easily overlooked as children. As the friendship starts to fade memories are distorted to give reason for conflict between the two girls such as whether or not Twyla kicked Maggie. So as proven in the story, A child’s innocence makes it easy to befriend someone and as we get older society can hinder us continuing an old friendship or pursuing a new
Isn't it amazing how children seem to be able to see the best in everything? In the short story Recitatif by Toni Morrison, The two main characters become friends as children and it seems that its almost everlasting due to the innocent nature of them meeting. When one is in their adolescent ages it seems that its easier to not ....A child’s innocence makes it easy to befriend someone and as we get older society can hinder us continuing an old friendship or pursuing a new one. Both Twyla and Roberta end up in the same orphanage in similar situations, this makes it easy for them to relate to one another. As children they were too innocent to judge each other by their differences but could only find the similarities. And despite their differences that are obvious such as race and previous upbringing, both children create a codependent relationship. It is not until the girls parents come to visit them that they recognize their differences. Roberta's Mother refuses to shake Twyla’s mother’s hand and this leads to their first conflict. Roberta's mother is not comfortable shaking hands with someone of another race therefore it brings out the fact that the world is not as accepting of their differences. At this point the innocence is lost and reality begins to set in.Before this point...... As the story progresses and time moves forward the reality of the world sets in more and more. There are many distractions like work, class, marriage, and kids that shed light on many differences that were easily overlooked as children. As the friendship starts to fade memories are distorted to give reason for conflict between the two girls such as whether or not Twyla kicked Maggie. So as proven in the story, A child’s innocence makes it easy to befriend someone and as we get older society can hinder us continuing an old friendship or pursuing a new