Backgrounds: Very Good or Very Bad

 People's backgrounds can be very difficult to understand.

    Recitatif is one of the short stories that has opened my eyes the most this year. It was written by Toni Morrisson in 1983. The whole story is about these two little girls that were put into a place for orphans but they both still have their moms. We learn about their experience there but also after the orphan place, we learn about their path to being adults and taking on life as grown-ups.

    It's about Twyla and Roberta, two young girls that were put in the same room at the orphanage, one girl is black and the other is white but the story never really tells us which one is which. Twyla's mom is a said dancer at night, in other words, a prostitute that couldn't take care of her daughter so decided to place her somewhere she could have a better life. Roberta's mom is said sick all the time, which made my class think she has mental problems which make her incapable of taking care of her little girl.

    The two girls slowly get along at the orphanage despite the color difference. Having no other friends and getting bullied by the taller girls, they were forced to stick together and make it out of the orphanage somewhat happy. They then took on life and came across each other multiple times while those interactions were good to get the news they would always end on a bad note with Roberta saying things about their time as kids, that were lied, but made Twyla doubt herself and how she acted.

    I was certainly affected by this short story but in different ways throughout the whole story. In the beginning, I felt bad for the little girls, I thought how horrible it would be to be placed in there and have to live through all that as a child. Then, when they became adults and started encountering each other, Roberta would lie a lot which made me think how bad of a person she was. I was questioning why she would do that and why the conversation was always double face. It would start so happily with news and getting to know what is going on in their lives and then suddenly, it would turn into this mean speech of Twyla beating up this girl named Maggie that had some troubles. After, Twyla talks about her making posters to respond to the protest done by Roberta. those signs were kind of childish and I thought that was very immature of Twyla to do that as a mother. Later, Roberta apologized to Twyla for everything she said throughout the years and explained why she did it.

 I believe this is a powerful text, not because of the color difference or the lying or anything but because of the interactions not mentioned in the writing. Reading the last part I was thinking I was wondering if Roberta was acting like that with Twyla, and how was she interacting with other people in her life? That's what opened my mind. I have known people in my life and thought to myself " Damn, what's up with him? why is he acting like that? Why is he so weird?". I don't know what is happening or happened in his/her life that made him/her like that. Maybe that person is building a shield around them because they don't want to get hurt again. Maybe their home is aggressive and that's all they know, that's how they were educated so they are frustrated with life. I was lucky to grow up in a very steady and supportive family. I was given opportunities that some people will never get and I have to be grateful for that. 

    With all that being said I would say Twyla is the black child in the story. What would you say?

Location: 501 E 38th St, Erie, PA 16546, USA

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