Imagine existing in a society where your basic human rights and privileges are violated and sometimes removed entirely based on the origins to which you were unwillingly born.  Imagine that society and then take a long, hard look at the world in which we live in.  Although laws and bills have been passed to prevent racist actions, racism and social oppression are prevalent issues in the United States to this day.  Every minority in existence whether it be black, Hispanic, Asian, gay, female, etc. has experienced some type of oppression in this day and age.  However, in the 1970’s and 80’s, racism and segregation was unfathomably prevalent in our country to an extent that enabled people of majority races to have advantages in most aspects of life.  In the short story, “Recitatif,” Toni Morrison explores the ideas of racism and social oppression by exemplifying the experiences of two girls of different races at different points of their lives; youth and adulthood.  Interracial companionship and conflict both have a direct correlation with increasing age and the accumulation of experiences through contrasting societal lenses.

Morrison begins the story by introducing two girls, Twyla and Roberta, with both commonalities and vast differences.  The girls are both orphans of a young age “dumped” by their mothers at St. Bonny’s orphanage.  The girls’ commonalities are expressed in the following quote: “We got along all right, Roberta and me.  Changed beds every night, got F’s in civics and communication skills and gym… So we got along-what with her leaving whole pieces of things on her plate and being nice about not asking questions” (Morrison 3).  Although Twyla was previously warned by her mother of the negative connotation behind people of other races, the young girl appeared to be tolerant of Roberta and got along with her.  Is it possible that her youthfulness masks her true feelings about people of other races?  Twyla is blindly tolerant of Roberta due to the fact that she is inexperienced and in need of a companion.  The vast difference between the girls is that they are of contrasting races in a time period where racism was prevalent.  Although the girls look at each other and notice their differences in appearance, they are happy to accompany one another in their orphan lives.  In contrast to their fickle youthfulness, the two girls encounter each other in their adult lives after not seeing one another for quite some time.  The reaction Roberta gives Twyla is quite unexpected.

One average day while working as a waitress at a Howard Johnson’s, Twyla notices her long lost friend Roberta in one of the booths.  She is dressed in a sophisticated outfit with elegant makeup which hints at her social status; higher than that of Twyla.  Upon greeting her in a friendly manner, Twyla is rudely conferred with a “Wow” from Roberta.  This is not a wow of exclamation or excitement but of haste and shock.  Upon unwillingly continuing the conversation, Roberta avoidably calls Twyla an asshole when she confuses Jimi Hendrix for Hendrix Fantastic.  After the stiff conversation is concluded, the narrator states that “Howard Johnson’s really was a dump in the sunlight” (Morrison 6).  This quote is used to compare the dumpy restaurant to the realization of Roberta’s undeniably intolerant personality.  In this scenario, the two girls have experiences of their own and relationships of their own too.  They have lived out their teenage and adult years not knowing anything of one another’s whereabouts or wellbeing.  Why then would Roberta front Twyla with such snobby responses?  Considering Roberta had friends present of contrasting race to that of Twyla, she was trying to impress them based on common social process of the time period; racism.  This is evident because the two girls face each other in a later scene without other people present.  Their one-on-one conversation is friendly and reminiscent of their times in the orphanage.  Although the two girls eventually find commonalities in their adulthood, they still possess an internal conflict; the bow-legged sandy-colored mute named Maggie.

During the final confrontation between Twyla and Roberta, the topic of a St. Bonny’s cook named Maggie arises and a story is reminisced about whether or not she was black and how the “gar girls” were responsible for her helpless demise.  As young Twyla and Roberta sat back and watched the mean girls harass defenseless Maggie, they both felt the need to chime in on the action and call Maggie names.  They even considered kicking her and remembered how they wanted to hurt Maggie or have the other girls hurt Maggie.  Maggie being an uninvolved character provides a basis of togetherness and contrast between Twyla and Roberta.  Her physical representation (sandy-colored) is a metaphor for the unifying of contrasting races between Twyla and Roberta.  The girls’ differences are represented in their recollection of the event of harassment in the orchard.  Although the two girls share the commonality of wanting Maggie to be harmed and the name calling out of fear of the mean girls, their conflicting viewpoints on Maggie’s race represent the internal conflict between races.  Much like that of the Southeast Women’s Employment Coalition whose goal was to unify working class women across the racial divide, the girls possessed internal conflict.  In the 1970’s and 80’s, this coalition experienced an internal divide.  The SWEC “struggled to implement a regional strategy that could address the economic disadvantage experienced by working-class women of all races” (Smith 681).  It is absurd to think that an organization whose goal was to alleviate the hardships of racism experienced internal disagreements solely due to the contrasting races.  This statement proves that racial boundaries exist in the most unlikely of places.  The organization’s “racial division is spatial as well as social… and is also associated with profound social distance, especially among adults” (Smith 682).  In essence, the task of preventing social oppression in all forms is nearly unsurmountable.  Even adults whom are the most likely candidates for aiding in social reform have only made the problem worse.  

Due to the age and experience of Twyla and Roberta, their oppressive beliefs become much more evident by the end of the story.  Their social statuses have experienced a dynamic path that also encompasses their differing beliefs and experiences.  As evident in Morrison’s “Recitatif,” past experiences and social position based on race and age play an important role in the racial classification and self-identification of Americans.  
