Recitatif Summary & Analysis

Twyla, the narrator, explains that she and Roberta were in a shelter called St. Bonny’s because Twyla’s mother “danced all night” and Roberta’s mother was “sick.” Twyla says that people often feel pity for her when they learn she was in a shelter, but that it wasn’t that bad. She and Roberta shared a room with four beds, and the two girls slept in a different bed every night.

The relationship between the two girls, however, did not get off to a good start. Twyla admits that when she found out she would have to share a room with “a girl from a whole different race,” she felt “sick to my stomach.” Her mother, Mary, had told her that people of Roberta’s race never washed their hair and “smelled funny.” Twyla tells “Big Bozo,” the woman who runs the orphanage, that Mary would object to Twyla sharing a room with Roberta. Big Bozo responds dismissively and tells the girls that if they fight, they won’t be allowed to watch The Wizard of Oz later on.

After Big Bozo leaves, Roberta asks Twyla if her mother is sick too; Twyla responds that her mother (Mary) isn’t sick, but “just likes to dance all night.” Twyla likes the way that Roberta seems to understand her easily; this is true even though both children perform badly in school and Roberta cannot read. Twyla mentions that the only thing Roberta was good at was jacks. Although the two girls didn’t like each other at first, they were rejected by the other children because they weren’t “real orphans with beautiful dead parents in the sky.” Twyla recalls that there were children of many different races at St. Bonny’s, but that all of them refused to play with her and Roberta.

Twyla notes that she loved the food at St. Bonny’s, particularly because her own mother’s “idea of supper was popcorn and a can of Yoo-Hoo.” She explains that sometimes she and Roberta were tormented by the older teenage girls at the shelter, who wore makeup and seemed intimidating but were actually (in retrospect) “scared runaways… poor little girls.” The older girls would play music on the radio and dance in the orchard, and if they caught Roberta and Twyla watching them they’d chase after them and “pull our hair and twist our arms.”

Twyla recalls that she would often dream about the orchard, although she’s not sure why. She claims “nothing really happened there,” aside from the older girls dancing. She adds that “Maggie fell down there once,” and explains that Maggie was a bow-legged woman who worked in the kitchen at St. Bonny’s. When she fell, the older girls laughed at her, and Twyla was too afraid of them to help her.

Twyla explains that Maggie couldn’t talk; although some of the children say she had her tongue cut out, Twyla doesn’t believe them. Twyla recalls that she was “old and sandy-colored,” with “legs like parentheses” that made her walk in a distinctive, rocking manner. She wore a “stupid little hat—a kid’s hat with earflaps.” Twyla asks Roberta if Maggie can scream, worrying what would happen if someone tried to kill her; Roberta says that Maggie could only cry inaudibly. One day the two girls attempt to prove whether or not Maggie can hear them by calling her “Dummy!” and “Bow legs!”. Although Maggie does not react, Twyla later guiltily wonders if she could in fact hear them.

Twyla recalls that Big Bozo was “disappointed” in her and Roberta, because they were the only children at St. Bonny’s who had been “dumped” by their mothers and who got “F’s in three classes including gym.” However, Twyla and Roberta got along well. Twyla recalls that “the day before Maggie fell down” the girls found out their mothers were coming to visit on the same day. They look forward to the visit, excited by the prospect of their mothers meeting. On the day of the visit, Roberta wears a special pair of socks even though they have not yet dried after being washed, and each girl brings a homemade construction paper basket filled with candy.

The other visitors who arrive at St. Bonny’s are frightening, predatory adults—“the old biddies who wanted servants and the fags who wanted company.” Twyla reflects that if any of the children actually had a relative capable of taking care of them, “they wouldn’t be real orphans.” Twyla is upset upon seeing that her mother, Mary, is wearing a pair of green slacks that Twyla dislikes and considers inappropriate for the church service they are about to attend. Mary embraces Twyla, squishing the paper basket and exclaiming “Twyla, baby. Twyla, baby!”. Twyla is furious, knowing that the other children will tease her about this. At the same time, she is also happy, and wants to “stay buried in her fur all day.”

Twyla is so happy to see Mary that she briefly forgets about Roberta, until Roberta comes to introduce her mother to Twyla and Mary. Roberta’s mother is “bigger than any man,” wearing an enormous cross and carrying a huge Bible. Mary tries to shake Roberta’s mother’s hand, but Roberta’s mother simply walks away, causing Mary to exclaim, “That bitch!”. Everyone in the chapel turns to stare at her. Mary is unable to concentrate during the service, groaning and checking her lipstick in a hand mirror. Twyla remembers thinking “she really needed to be killed.” She imagines the “real orphans were looking smug.”

Mary hasn’t brought anything to eat for lunch, and Twyla again thinks, “I could have killed her.” Roberta’s mother, meanwhile, brought a large array of food; Roberta brings Twyla some graham crackers after the mothers leave, and Twyla thinks that she must be sorry that her mother snubbed Mary. She appreciates the fact that Roberta does not mention Mary’s behavior during chapel.

Roberta leaves St. Bonny’s in May, and on her last day she and Twyla sit in the orchard and watch the older girls dance and smoke. Roberta seems “sort of glad and sort of not” to be going home. Twyla thinks she will die in the room with four beds without her, but also knows that Big Bozo is planning to “move some other dumped kid” to be Twyla’s roommate. Roberta promises to write to Twyla every day, even though she cannot read. After Roberta leaves, her memory fades in Twyla’s mind.

The story jumps forward eight years in time. Twyla is working at a Howard Johnson’s diner, which is far from where she lives in Newburgh, but not a bad job. She notes that the diner looks better at night, “more like shelter.” It is August and a Greyhound bus has just stopped at the diner. Suddenly, Twyla sees Roberta, who is smoking a cigarette and accompanied by two men with excessive facial hair. Roberta is wearing an outfit and makeup that “made the big girls look like nuns.” At the end of her shift, Twyla approaches her, wondering if Roberta will remember her and noting that she herself never talks about St. Bonny’s to anyone.

Twyla reintroduces herself, and Roberta remembers her. They exchange small talk, and Roberta lets out “a private laugh that included the guys but only the guys.” Twyla feels self-conscious in her waitress uniform. She expects Roberta to invite her to sit with them, but instead Roberta tells her that they are on the way to see Hendrix. Twyla responds enthusiastically, asking what “she is doing now.” Roberta clarifies that she meant “Jimi Hendrix, asshole.” She goes to leave without saying goodbye, and Twyla asks after Roberta’s mother. Roberta says she is “fine” and Twyla says that Mary is “pretty as a picture.” Roberta leaves and Twyla again thinks about how ugly the Howard Johnson’s is in the light.

The narrative jumps years ahead again. Twyla says her husband, James, is “as comfortable as a house slipper.” His family have always lived in Newburgh and consider the town an “upstate paradise,” even though half its residents are now on welfare. On the other hand, the town is also changing; wealthy executives are moving in, and people are buying run-down houses and renovating them. A gourmet store opens, and Twyla makes a trip there out of curiosity, but the only item she can bring herself to buy are Klondike bars. She notes that both her father-in-law and her son (Joseph) love them.

Suddenly Twyla hears Roberta call out her name. Roberta is “dressed to kill,” wearing diamonds and a white dress and holding asparagus and “fancy water.” At first Twyla corrects her, saying “I’m Mrs. Benson,” before realizing that the woman is Roberta. Roberta clarifies that she lives in Newburgh too, in an area called Annandale, “a neighborhood full of doctors and IBM executives.” Twyla remembers the moment 12 years earlier in Howard Johnson’s, still feeling hurt and wondering how Roberta has gone from going to see Jimi Hendrix to living in a fancy suburb.

Roberta explains that the man she married a year ago, Kenneth Norton, is from Annandale. Twyla says that she is married to James Benson, whom she describes as “wonderful.” She tells Roberta that she has one son, and Roberta replies that her husband is a widower and she has four stepchildren. Roberta asks if Twyla has a moment to get a coffee, and Twyla briefly considers that the Klondike bars will melt in her car, before concluding that this “served me right for buying all that stuff I didn’t need.” She sees that Roberta’s car is being driven by a Chinese chauffeur, and the two women laugh imagining what Big Bozo would think if she could see them now.

Twyla reflects that it feels as if 20 years have disappeared and she and Roberta are children again. She recalls the teenage girls at St. Bonny’s, who they called the gar girls (based on a misunderstanding of the word gargoyles). Going into the coffee shop, she and Roberta hold each other and act “like sisters.” Twyla says that although she and Roberta only lived together for four months as children, they connected because they both knew how not to ask questions and instead simply understood each other, a skill that distinguished them from the rest of the world.

Twyla asks Roberta if she ever learned to read, and Roberta triumphantly reads the menu aloud. They recall details from their time at St. Bonny’s, and Twyla asks what ended up happening with Jimi Hendrix, but Roberta doesn’t respond. Instead, she tells Twyla about her husband, Kenneth, and their two servants. Twyla asks Roberta if she remembers the time when Maggie fell down and the gar girls laughed at her. Roberta gravely responds that Maggie didn’t fall—the gar girls pushed her in the orchard on purpose and ripped her clothes.

Twyla has no recollection of Maggie being pushed, but Roberta insists that this is what happened and that she and Twyla had been frightened. Roberta continues that Big Bozo was fired, which she knew because she returned to St Bonny’s twice after leaving. During the second time, when she was 14, she ran away to avoid ending up “dancing in the orchard.” Twyla is still in disbelief that Maggie was pushed, and asked Roberta who her roommates were when she returned. Roberta replies that they were “creeps” who “tickled themselves in the night.”

Suddenly Twyla decides she wants to go home, and feels angry at Roberta for not apologizing for the incident at Howard Johnson’s. She asks Roberta if she was “on dope” when they last met, and Roberta replies that it’s possible, but that her frostiness was just how things were then—“black—white.” Twyla disagrees, recalling how young white and black people would get off the bus and come into Howard Johnson’s together. However, she remembers the Klondike bars and feels childish for still feeling insulted. The women promise to “keep in touch this time,” and as they are saying goodbye once again ask about each other’s mothers. Twyla says Mary never stopped dancing, and Roberta sadly admits that Roberta’s mother never got well. After Roberta goes, Twyla wonders if it’s possible Roberta is right about Maggie.

The narrative jumps ahead to the fall, when Newburgh is afflicted by “racial strife.” Twyla imagines this strife in the form of an enormous prehistoric bird watching and screeching at the neighborhood from the sky. Twyla knows she is supposed to feel bad about the strife, but isn’t sure what she thinks and receives no help figuring it out from James. Their son, Joseph, is on a list of students to be bused to another school, though Twyla doesn’t see a substantial difference between the schools. She forgets about the whole issue until one day when she drives past a school about to be integrated and sees Roberta carrying a sign that reads: “MOTHERS HAVE RIGHTS TOO!”

Roberta approaches Twyla, and the two women quickly realize that both their children are on lists to be bused. However, where Twyla feels indifferent about this, Roberta is furious. The two women argue vaguely over forced integration, and their words sound nasty and childish. Twyla looks at the other picketing mothers, complaining that they are “swarming all over the place like they own it” and claiming that they are “Bozos.” Roberta replies that they are in fact “just mothers,” and the women begin bickering again.

The picketing women surround Twyla’s car and begin rocking it, and Twyla instinctively reaches for Roberta, “like the old days in the orchard.” Roberta, however, does not take Twyla’s hand, but simply watches. Eventually, the police force the women to disperse, though Roberta remains staring at Twyla. She tells Twyla that she might be different now, but that Twyla is the same—“the same little state kid who kicked a poor old black lady.” Roberta claims it is hypocritical for Twyla to call her a bigot, considering she kicked Maggie. Twyla is confused, as she is sure that Maggie wasn’t black. She says this to Roberta, who responds “like hell she wasn’t,” and repeats that they kicked her, reminding Twyla that Maggie “couldn’t even scream.” The two women accuse each other of being liars before parting ways.

The next day, Twyla makes a sign that reads “AND SO DO CHILDREN****.” She arrives outside the school and joins a newly formed counter-protest. On the first day, the two groups are “dignified,” ignoring those on the opposing side. The next day the women call each other names and make obscene gestures. Twyla realizes that her sign doesn’t make sense without Roberta’s; she also notes that Roberta was ignoring her and possibly didn’t notice she was there. The next day, when Roberta raises her sign reading “MOTHER HAVE RIGHTS TOO!”, Twyla immediately holds up a new sign she has made, reading “HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?”.

Days pass, and Twyla continues to make “crazier” signs that no one can understand, including one that reads “IS YOUR MOTHER WELL?”. Roberta leaves the protest and doesn’t come back; eventually, Twyla does the same. Classes are suspended for six weeks. Twyla attempts to tutor Joseph at home, but he and the other children in the neighborhood can’t concentrate and just end up watching TV. When the schools open again, there are fights and sirens heard in the streets. Joseph takes one of Twyla’s signs and hangs it in his bedroom, and Twyla’s father-in-law uses another to cut fish on.

Twyla looks for Roberta at Joseph’s graduation, but doesn’t see her. She continues to dwell on the question of whether or not Maggie was actually black. Suddenly it occurs to Twyla that she and Roberta both know the truth, which is that they didn’t kick Maggie but wanted to. Twyla determines that “Maggie was my dancing mother,” and that both women had “nobody inside.” She draws a parallel between Maggie’s disabilities and Mary’s inability to perform her duties as a mother; she then compares Maggie’s silence and helplessness with her own.

After some deliberation over whether or not to get a Christmas tree, Twyla decides that she wants to, and on her way back from buying it she drives past the Newburgh hotel. She sees a crowd of rich men and women in luxurious clothing, and observes that it makes her “tired to look at them.” On the next corner there is a diner, where she decides to stop for a cup of coffee. There she sees Roberta, wearing an elegant evening gown and fur coat and accompanied by two other people who look a little drunk. Roberta tells the other two to wait for her in the car and she sits in a booth with Twyla.

Roberta tells Twyla that she resolved to tell her something if the two of them ever met again. Twyla is resistant, but Roberta explains that it’s “about St. Bonny’s and Maggie.” Roberta insists that she really used to think Maggie was black, but now isn’t sure. She explains that she thought Maggie was crazy because she couldn’t talk, and that Maggie was brought up in an institution like Roberta’s mother was (and where Roberta assumed she also would be).

Roberta confesses that Twyla was right, that it was only the gar girls who kicked Maggie. However, Roberta adds that she wanted to kick her, and “wanting to is doing it.” Twyla tries to console Roberta, telling her that they were only eight-year-old children. The two women agree that they were both “lonely” and “scared.” Twyla asks if she told Roberta that Mary “never did stop dancing.” Roberta responds that her own mother never got better. Suddenly she begins sobbing more intensely, and exclaims: “What the hell happened to Maggie?”