Pesavento 1

Josh Pesavento
Mr. Newman
English 101: Rhetoric
13 November 2014

Feminist Analysis of Recitatif

In todays society, men are more powerful than women. For example, when a man introduces his
friend to his wife, he says something along the lines of This is my wife. This shows that men
are higher on the totem pole because they do not even use the womans first name; they use their
relation to them. Toni Morrison diminishes that idea by taking men out of the whole story
altogether. In Recitatif, the women are clearly more important than the men, but Morrison
perceives them as weak. Males are talked about less than a handful of times in the entire story.
They are only involved in three scenes, and they serve no importance at all. The story would be
the same if Morrison had decided to take out all the male characters in the story altogether. None
of the males speak a single word. This story is told from a feminist approach. A feminist believes
that women deserve all the same rights that males have. Without the male presence in
Recitatif, the weaknesses of Twyla and Roberta are predominant because there is no male
figure to contrast.
In the beginning of Recitatif, Twyla and Roberta are the only two non-orphans at St.
Bonnys an all-girls orphanage school; the administration also consists of all girls. All of the
girls abuse one girl, a mute girl named Maggie, who cant even speak up to defend herself.
Morrison portrays the girls as weak because of all the girls at the school, they chose to harass the
one with the least amount of power. Lois Tyson says that anger is a very effective way to block
out fear and pain (Tyson 88). This proves that they are depicted as weak by Morrison because in

Pesavento 2

a patriarchal manhood, fear and pain is a sissy trait. Men are considered wimps if they show
any fear or signs of pain. From this view, one would say that women need men in their lives to
balance out everything.
When Twyla and Roberta meet for the third time in Recitatif, both have settled down
and have families of their own. Roberta is a stay-at-home mom, while her husband makes a
fortune and provides for her with luxury. Once again, weakness is shown because to achieve
equality, the woman should also get a job of her own. In this case, the male takes on the role of
Prince Charming (Tyson 88). A woman should not marry a man because he has enough money
to support the two of them financially. The role of women working has changed a lot of the
course of the past 20 years. In todays society, Roberta would be viewed as a Gold Digger
because it appears that she married her husband for the money. Even though men desire to
dominate all financial matters (Tyson 90), that does not mean that women are supposed to stay
at home and rely on the male to make all of the money in the relationship. However, a true
feminist believes that women should be able to stay at home and raise children (Tyson 83).
Men, in turn, place the good girls on pedestals. A good girl juggles a career and a family she
looks great at the office and over the breakfast table (Tyson 91). Roberta does not meet up to
the criteria for a feminist because she does not work. A patriarchy strives off of equality, and she
is not reaching those expectations. A true feminist wants equality with men, including the
workforce.
Morrison portrays Twyla and Roberta as weak individuals in Recitatif. By doing so, the
inequality in feminism is seen very clearly. The males are very minor characters, yet you can still
get a gist of their dominance in the lives of Roberta and Twyla, especially Roberta. Although
Roberta does not appear to have a job, maybe her husband did not want her to work so he can

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flaunt his dominance in the marriage. Without the male presence in Recitatif, the weaknesses
of Twyla and Roberta are predominant because there is no male figure to contrast. Feminism
spreads further than just relationship roles. In movies, the camera is shot from the males eyes
(Tyson 85). The women are looked upon as sex figures with the clothing and makeup they wear.
The feminists think more movies should be seen from the womens view instead so they are
looked at as more than an object.