'Black People and Roberta Essay\r'

'In Toni Morrison’s â€Å"Recitatif,” the narrative is to the highest degree two girls, Twyla and Roberta. They age up in an orphanage because their mothers could not safekeeping for them. Morrison makes it clear the girls fall from different ethnic backgrounds only never states which one is pitch- filthy or purity. At one point in the story Twyla comments, â€Å"We looked corresponding salt and pepper. ” I grew frustrated with the story and had to get hold of it several multiplication. I could never determine who was black and white and the lesson I learned should have been it doesn’t really matter.\r\nThe story begins with Twyla’s mother falling her off at the orphanage. She meets Roberta and they become best friends. The hold fast they share occurs because they were not considered real orphans. They were abandoned kids conflicting the other children whose parents had died. One of the last periods the girls take heed each other was the day of a visitation. On that night, Twyla’s mother was wearing â€Å"those tight gullible slacks that do her butt stick out. ” some(prenominal) populate have labeled blacks as having large butts.\r\nShe could have been black, she could have been a heavy white wo soldiery with a large butt, or a Hispanic woman like me. But I automatically stereotyped and went with Twyla has to be black. During the visitation Roberta’s mother â€Å"had brought complainer legs. ” Twyla notices Roberta does not eat the chicken legs. I al managements thought black commonwealth liked chicken more than white people which means Roberta was white since she did not eat the chicken. Or maybe she exactly wasn’t hungry. Shortly after that visitation Roberta’s mother came to take her home, leaving the girls devastated.\r\nThey see each other several times throughout the old age. At their first meeting, Roberta was rude and far-flung because she was high. Ro berta 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 Hendrix’s band was interracial with a several(a) audience. Roberta could have been white due to the diverse audience. I am a huge Hendrix devotee and I am not black so why would I think Roberta is. Twelve years later they meet again at a grocery store.\r\nRoberta married a rich man and was extremely friendly to Twyla. Twyla cannot hold back her emotions and asks Roberta active the last time they saw each other. Roberta shrugs it off, â€Å"Oh, Twyla, you lie with how it was in those days: blackâ€white. You know how everything was. ” I can relate to this. In 1980, the Cuban Mariel sauceboat Lifts came over bring thousands of Cubans. I am Cuban but I was born here. Kids I had cognize since kindergarten treated me as if I just come over on the boats. It had a lasting issuance on me and matured me beyond my year s.\r\nThe 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 fleck severing any last chance of a friendship for them as it would not be obstinate until Twyla and Roberta meet for a final time. As the story ends I do not get a sense of closure. The question of which girl is white or black remains unanswered. It opened my eyes and made me question how prejudice I really am.\r\nI try to not stereotype as a result of what I went through 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 close was overall but to me it seemed as if she were teaching me rough prejudices. â€Å"Recitatif” challenged me to not judge either girl by their race but accept them for who they are. In the end, what distinction did it really make about the girls’ races? The story is about how their friendsh ip develops and then deteriorates. Nothing more; nix less.\r\n'