Black People and Roberta Essay

In Toni Morrisons Recitatif, the chronicle is to the highest degree two girls, Twyla and Roberta. They grow up in an orphanage because their engenders could non deal for them. Morrison makes it clear the girls put in from different ethnic backgrounds but never states which atomic number 53 is black or white. At one point in the yarn Twyla comments, We looked like salt and pepper. I grew frustrated with the story and had to read it several(prenominal) eons. I could never determine who was black and white and the lesson I receipting should take up been it doesnt really matter.The story begins with Twylas m other(a) drop her off at the orphanage. She meets Roberta and they become best friends. The bond they share occurs because they were not considered real orphans. They were abandoned kids unlike the other children whose parents had died. One of the last times the girls fool each other was the day of a visitation. On that night, Twylas mother was wearing those tight gre en slacks that made her demonstrate stick out. Many throng have labeled blacks as having bigger butts.She could have been black, she could have been a heavy white wo earth with a large butt, or a Hispanic woman like me. only I automatically stereotyped and went with Twyla has to be black. During the visitation Robertas mother had brought chicken legs. Twyla notices Roberta does not eat the chicken legs. I always thought process black people liked chicken more than white people which means Roberta was white since she did not eat the chicken. Or maybe she but wasnt hungry. Shortly after that visitation Robertas mother came to care her home, leaving the girls devastated.They see each other several times passim the years. At their first meeting, Roberta was rude and distant because she was high. Roberta tells Twyla she is on the way to see Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was an infamous black guitarist. I thought at this point Roberta has to be black. However Hendrixs band was interracia l with a diverse audience. Roberta could have been white due to the diverse audience. I am a Brobdingnagian Hendrix fan and I am not black so why would I think Roberta is. Twelve years later they meet again at a grocery store.Roberta married a rich man and was extremely friendly to Twyla. Twyla cannot hold back her emotions and asks Roberta closely the last time they saw each other. Roberta shrugs it off, Oh, Twyla, you know how it was in those days blackwhite. You know how everything was. I can relate to this. In 1980, the Cuban Mariel Boat Lifts came everyplace bring thousands of Cubans. I am Cuban but I was born(p) here. Kids I had known since kindergarten treated me as if I tho come over on the boats. It had a lasting effect on me and grow me beyond my years.The third time they meet is at the school where their children attend. Roberta and other mothers were picketing because they did not want their kids to be segregated. This led to a fight divide any last chance of a friendship for them as it would not be resolved until Twyla and Roberta meet for a final time. As the story ends I do not get a sense of closure. The dubiety of which girl is white or black remains unanswered. It opened my eye and made me question how prejudice I really am.I fork up to not stereotype as a result of what I went through with(predicate) as a child but I found myself doing just that. I can understand why Morrison wrote the way she. I am not sure what her goal was overall but to me it seemed as if she were instruction me about prejudices. Recitatif challenged me to not judge either girl by their dry wash but accept them for who they are. In the end, what difference did it really make about the girls races? The story is about how their friendship develops and then deteriorates. Nothing more nonentity less.