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Jill Malinowski
Mr. Newman
English 101: Rhetoric
19 November 2014
Women > Men?
When considering the roles of feminism in literature the story Recitatif by Toni
Morrison can be considered a feminist read. In her short story Recitatif she writes
about, two female protagonists (Twyla and Roberta), but fails to include any male
protagonist characters. In this short story the author writes from a feminist point of view,
focusing on two girls; one white one black. Twyla and Roberta grew up with their
mothers, but then were dumped at St. Bonnys, a foster home somewhere in New York
with all girls, and in the story their mothers come to visit them. The author doesnt
indicate if either of the girls have fathers. A conclusion I came to think of is that the two
fathers left their family, and thats why two girls are in a foster home because the
mothers couldnt handle raising the daughters on their own.
The following points are what lead me to believe that this short story was written
in a feminist point of view; the girls only had mothers, no fathers/father figures in their
lives. Toni Morrison writes that Twyla and Roberta were put in an all girls orphanage.
Also all the orphanage workers were femaleno males worked there. In keeping with the
feminist point of view Morrison doesnt focus on either Twyla or Robertas husbands.
However they both only introduce them by their professions. Again Morrison doesnt go
into any male roles as far as Twyla and Robertas family goes, the reader just knows that
they have children.

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In the reading Critical Theory Today Full Text, Chapter 4 by Lois Tyson, the
author states women should be able to stay home and raise children if they want to do
so (Tyson 83); this goes along with the story Recitatif because in a way Twyla and
Robertas mothers are both feminists. They both work to support themselves, and raised a
child on their ownuntil they couldnt anymore.
Roberta married into wealth, didnt have to work and lived in Annandale, along
with rich doctors. When asked what her husband does, she responds something with
computers, through out the story; Roberta appears in fancy clothes- most likely
purchased by her husband. On the other hand Twyla has been working to live ever since
she got out of the foster home. She works for herself, and supports herself. Clearly in the
story Morrison wrote Twyla to appear as a feminist more so than Roberta. Where towards
the end everything seemed to be given to her by her husband, which has no trait of
feminism to it.
In the beginning of the story Twyla states that she and Roberta both failed all their
classes, in Critical Theory Today Full Text, Lois Tyson Chapter 4 states it is often
assumed that little girls can't do math and, furthermore, that this deficiency doesnt really
matter because most of them won't need math in later life, girls are not called on by the
teacher as frequently as boys to perform mathematical operations (Tyson 84), according
to this view Twyla and Roberta fall under this stereotype of girls not performing well in
mathematics.
The author never tells the reader which character is white, and which is black.
Morrison describes /Robertss character as having big hair like an Afro, which was
popular in the late 60s and early 70s. Then again, later in the story the author described

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Robertas hair being slicked back. This leads the reader to feel contradicted because
another part of the story feel that Twyla may be black. When Roberta, and her friends are
protesting they surround Twylas car, and start rocking it. Back in the days of segregation
this would have happened only to a black woman. Because the author writes, the point of
view where it is a female dominant, feminist point of view, and the reader cannot be
predigest toward the male roles. Therefore Morrison leaves it for the individual to make
his or her own view as to be prejudicial in a racial point of view. Each reader picks out
points of the story to make them think Roberta is black or Twyla is white, or vice versa.
The individual brings their own prejudices as far as what they were brought up to
perceive black and white to be. The only way the author could do this is by writing it
from a feminist point of view in which she only focuses on women characters.
The reason why Toni Morrison writes from a feminist point of view is because
she doesnt want to focus on being prejudice towards the man or the women; instead she
wants the reader to focus on prejudice of race. People shouldn't be prejudice, but in the
end, we all are we judge by social or economic class or how a person dresses or how they
wear their hair. This is why Morrison doesn't write who is black and who is white.