In Toni Morrison's Recitative, the author takes the reader on two women's journey from childhood to adulthood. She leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions regarding the race of the characters and their motivations throughout the story. This style of writing relates to the reader-response school of criticism. The two girls' first meeting reveals that they are of different races, but there is uncertainty as to which is black or white, with only stereotypes as a guide. They meet later in life but are in totally different places and things get awkward. Later, they reconnect as mature women who have found their place in life but are pitted against each other due to racial barriers and have difficulty remembering a painful past event. This is a powerful work of literature, a coming-of-age story that leaves the reader to make their own assumptions about who Twyla and Roberta are and what, and/or if anything happened in their past common. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The story begins with the meeting of two eight-year-old girls, Twyla and Roberta, at the St Bonny shelter. The author shows that they are of different racial origins. “And Mary, she’s my mother, she was right. Every once in a while she would stop dancing long enough to tell me something important and one of the things she said was that they never wash their hair and that it smells funny.” This was used for the reader to form an opinion based on what it means to them The way the girls' mothers are portrayed is also questionable to the reader The fact that Twyla's mother dances all night could indicate. that she is an exotic dancer, or it could mean that she parties all night and goes to nightclubs. She is portrayed by the narrator as immature as she seems embarrassed by her Roberta's mother. described as being ill, which may mean that she is suffering from some sort of health problem, perhaps cancer or something similar, but it is later implied that she is mentally ill. “She had been raised in an institution like my mother and like I thought I would be too. They both have mothers who can't care for them, but all the other girls are orphans. The girls bond over this, being the same age and having poor grades in school. They also don't like older girls who chase them and twist their arms. They were teasing a mute, bow-legged kitchen worker named Maggie. They think she's stupid and they insult her knowing she can't respond because she can't hear them. They separate and move on with their lives. When Twyla and Roberta get together, Twyla works as a waitress at Howard Johnson's. She sees Roberta very different from the girl she knew when she was a child. She is dressed provocatively and chain-smoking with two bearded men. Twyla approaches her, delighted to have seen her after all these years. But she doesn't seem to feel the same way and makes fun of her and sends her away. “Hendrix. Jimi Hendrix, asshole. It's just the biggest... Oh, wow. Forget it". There is at this point no way for the reader to know why he would behave this way. Her chain smoking and following Jimi Hendrix imply that she is a groupie who might do drugs. At That time, many of her fans were. That would be an easy assumption given her company and the way she is...