Recitatif

by Toni Morrison

The characters in question are Twyla and Roberta, two poor girls, eight years old and wards of the state, who spend four months together in St. Bonaventure shelter. The very first thing we learn about them, from Twyla, is this: “My mother danced all night and Roberta’s was sick.” A little later, that they were placed together, in room 406, “stuck in a strange place with a girl from a whole other race.”

That which characterizes That which belongs exclusively to That which is an essential quality of

My mother danced all night and Roberta’s was sick. That’s why we were taken to St. Bonny’s. People want to put their arms around you when you tell them you were in a shelter, but it really wasn’t bad.

so we were the only ones assigned to 406 and could go from bed to bed if we wanted to. And we wanted to, too.

We were eight years old and got F’s all the time. Me because I couldn’t remember what I read or what the teacher said. And Roberta because she couldn’t read at all and didn’t even listen to the teacher. She wasn’t good at anything except jacks, at which she was a killer: pow scoop pow scoop pow scoop.

nobody else wanted to play with us because we weren’t real orphans with beautiful dead parents in the sky. We were dumped.