- Be sure to have read the Morrison short story for Wednesday: http://linksprogram.gmu.edu/tutorcorner/NCLC495Readings/Morrison_recitatifessay.doc.pdf
- The discussion questions that are due on Wednesday are below:
American Literature Name
Toni Morrison -- “Recitatif” -- Discussion Questions
1.) With Twyla and Roberta we have one
Afro-American character and one Caucasian-American character. But which
character is which? And, how did you arrive at your decision? What
is your evidence?
2.) Why does the story continually return to references to the orchard and to Maggie? What is significant in these continual references? What are we to make of the confusion Twyla experiences in her memories of these things Then Roberta admits doubts about her own story. What’s going on here? (You might consider some of the notes we took on memory and how it works).
3.
Why
does Twyla stay at the demonstration, carrying her sign, even when the disorder
of the group has made her own placard meaningless?
4.) Is this ultimately a pessimistic story? Or do identity, and friendship, show themselves as transcendent somehow, undamaged in their essence by change? What details in the story help you to decide on your answer?
6.) Notice how the Howard Johnson’s restaurant is described as a “shelter” on page, and that St. Bonny’s was also a “shelter” Any significance to this?
7.) According to The American Heritage College Dictionary and the Encarta World English Dictionary, “recitation” and “recitative” are given the following definitions. How might these help to explain, or continue the explanation of, Morrison’s title?
- The public reading aloud of something or reciting of something from memory, esp. poetry.
- The listing or reporting of something.
- Of, or relating to, or having the character of a recital or recitation.
- Mus. – a vocal style in which a text is declaimed in the rhythm of natural speech with slight melodic variation.
- A style of singing that is close to the rhythm of natural speech, used in opera for dialogue and narration.
8.) Since at least the 1980s,
Morrison’s work has defied easy categorization. So, instead of beginning
with possible connections between American Realism and Naturalism, what other
narratives does “Recitatif” remind you of -- other works by Morrison or works
by other fiction writers, dramatists, or screenwriters?
