Racism has continually been existent in the American culture. Minority groups have and continue to battle against this injustice in hopes of one day gaining their equal rights. Of the minorities, the faction that has received the most prejudice has been African Americans. Throughout history, this group has been through countless eras of both progress and regress. Although they have come a long way since their cruel beginnings, their attempts to reach complete equality have yet to be successful. “Recitatif” is a story about two girls, Roberta and Twyla, one white and one black, and their friendship over the years. Throughout the narrative, Toni Morrison, the author of this short story, shows how the girls eventually grew apart by creating a symbolic character in the story, Maggie, who symbolizes racism in both the girls’ friendship and today’s society. In addition, historical context is used in order to show how the injustice is born and how society harbors it. 

At the beginning of the short story, we learn that Roberta and Twyla are new roommates at a shelter, St. Bonny’s. As bigotry doesn’t exist in their budding friendship, the two don’t see any issue in them hanging out and are naïve to the racial inequalities plaguing the world. While there, the two young girls come across Maggie: a mute, elderly lady with “legs like parenthesis” (Morrison 2) who works at the shelter. At the beginning, Maggie doesn’t have much effect on the girls. They notice her once when she falls down, but besides that one incident, Maggie is simply just another face in the crowd. This correlates to the start of discrimination. At the beginning, people don’t realize what exactly is going on around them. Like Maggie, discrimination is at first undetected. The injustice is only brought to the surface when one is introduced to it. 

After Roberta leaves the shelter, the two lose contact. Years pass, and one day Twyla spots Roberta in the restaurant she waitresses at. She approaches her, yet rather than a warm welcome, Roberta is off-putting to her once good friend. Why is this? When the two were young and hadn’t been exposed to such problems they got along perfectly. After being revealed to social influences and introduced to racial inequality, Roberta no longer appreciated Twyla the way she once did. In the article “Discursive Psychology and the ‘New Racism,’” author Kevin McKenzie explains that one is not born racist, they become racist through observation. Essentially, this idea says that humans mimic other humans. As stated by McKenzie, “This emphasizes the way that psychological explanations feature as a means by which social actors make sense of various circumstances and events, thereby attending to the accountable nature of their own and others behavior” (464). When one is seen expressing racist behavior, others are likely to follow. This directly relates to Maggie’s torment in the shelter. Only after seeing others carry out the act the two were provoked to do so. Likewise, after one observes prejudice, they’re more likely to want to engage in it themselves. The second time the girls meet, Roberta acts oppositely from their prior interaction and is very excited to see her old friend. As the two decide to catch up, Roberta is dressed in higher end clothing and tells Twyla about her wealthy new lifestyle. Twyla appears to be living oppositely than Roberta and explains where she lives and how her life is going. Twyla, still confused as to why Roberta was unfriendly a few years back asks why. “Oh Twyla you know how it was in those days: black-white. You know how everything was” (Morrison 11). After making this statement, it becomes clear that Roberta’s mindset had indeed become affected by those around her. Her outlook on blacks and whites were not what they used to be. Again, this relates back to the idea that social factors can influence one’s perception. 

Flash forward some years into the future to when the notorious case of Brown vs. Board of Education called for the integration of schools. During this time in history, racial issues were far and wide, and although the famous case was enacted in 1954, it took many years to bring its regulations to life. As stated in the article “Landmark: Brown vs Board of Education:” “It was not until LDF’s subsequent victories in Green v. County School Board (1968) and Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg (1971) that the Supreme Court issued mandates that segregation be dismantled “root and branch,” outlined specific factors to be considered to eliminate effects of segregation, and ensured that federal district courts had the authority to do so.” With the help of these two cases, integration was to commence. Twyla’s son was one of the many who were being brought into schools with white children. She sees no issue in this yet one day while driving, she sees moms rioting against the desegregation of the schools and recognizes a familiar face among the crowd: Roberta. She pulls over and the two start to bicker over the new turn of events. As their skirmishing intensifies, Roberta brings up Maggie and accuses Twyla of kicking and bullying her just as the other girls did. The symbol of Maggie has now completely changed and is something that is recognized as bad, showing that racism has finally been recognized. Twyla finally realizes the extent of discrimination not only by Roberta but also by society as a whole. Something once barely noticed at all has now become a prominent issue.  

The last time the girls meet, Roberta admits she lied about Twyla’s harassment towards Maggie and apologizes for it. The last thing she says, and the final line of the story, is “Oh shit Twyla, shit, shit, shit. What the hell happened to Maggie?” (17). This exposes the reader to the final stage of discrimination: remorse. After realizing all that’s happened with not only her and Twyla but also with the racist events that occurred, she feels shameful. Roberta says this as a way to show her regressed guilt towards Maggie. In turn, this correlates with her guilt towards her discriminative nature and how her friendship with Roberta turned out. In the entirety of the story, Toni Morrison never discloses which character is white and which character is black; she leaves it up to the reader to figure it out. Through analysis of the different environments the two characters live in, such as their jobs and wealth statuses, and their varying names, the reader is likely to perceive Twyla as black and Roberta as white. This implements the idea that discrimination is all-pervading and rooted in society’s mind; however, it isn’t always detected. The author further implements this idea by constantly bringing Maggie back into the story. She is consistent in almost all of Roberta and Twyla’s interactions, hinting that racism itself underlies most everyone’s actions. 

The story of Roberta and Twyla is used to show that no matter how strong a friendship may be, racism is a powerful force whether its recognizable or not. The unjust belief is one that is still harbored in our society, and though countless efforts have attempted to dismiss it, its precedential history makes it hard to obstruct. The purpose of this article is to make the reader aware of their actions in hopes they’ll grasp their wrongdoings and terminate them. One must not let the cycle of Maggie complete itself. 
