47 pages • 1 hour read
Toni MorrisonRecitatif
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1983A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Essay Topics
The story is structured around five encounters between Twyla and Roberta, starting when they are 8 years old. The author highlights similarities and differences between the two in every encounter as they transition from the orphanage to the world, from children to mothers, from outsiders to insiders. Compare and contrast their identities as they change over the course of the story.
How would the story be different if it were told from Roberta's point of view rather, than Twyla's point of view? What would Roberta's "recitative" consist of?
Motherhood is a powerful symbol in this story, from the beginning of the story to the end. Who are the various matriarchal figures in this story, and what different types of mothering are represented?
Both Twyla's mother and the gar girls are identified at various points with dancing. In fact, Twyla tells Roberta that she is at an orphanage because Twyla’s mother would rather "dance" than be a mother. Explore this use of dancing as it applies to the various characters.
Many girls and women are vulnerable in this story. Some of them find themselves in the orchard beyond the orphanage, a place where the apple trees are first described as "empty and crooked like beggar women" (244) but transform into blossoms, "heavy and white" (248). Why do you think this orchard haunts Twyla's dreams? What is its significance?
There have been no orphanages in the United States since the 1960s, since research shows that it's best to raise children in foster homes, rather than institutions like orphanages. What were the advantages and disadvantages of living at St. Bonny's orphanage for Twyla and Roberta?
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By Toni Morrison
