Stereotyping In Toni Morrison's Recitatif '

In “Recitatif” readers are confronted with different events that are unfolding so that they can recognize the stereotyping that is taking place in society. “Recitatif” opens up for readers to see how we are sometimes more focused on the group that we stereotype the individual character with instead of viewing them as their own person and getting to know them as an individual. I had an issue with which girl is black and which girl is white yet what I adore about the two young girls in the story is the way they see no issue with one another after their first meeting. This story opens up my eyes in how effectively today individuals are stereotyped. I had a desire to know and to positively identify the characters by race. Yet, Morrison avoided the racial identifications.
It is interesting to me how when we think of a certain food, clothing, or a certain action that someone may do, we automatically place them in a certain race. Morrison has left off this information showing us that, race in a way, does not matter. What makes a difference is that people have an issue about it. Morrison is stating that race does not make a difference, what is important is that individuals are hung up on race. We ought to view others of different race just by their character and actions,
I did not realize about myself how quickly I stereotype someone not just by the color of their skin but also by the clothes they are wearing, how they talk, and what they choose to eat. I found myself throughout the story, trying to figure out which girl was white and which girl was black. A few examples that I recognized while reading “Recitatif” were when Twyla describes Roberta of being of a whole other race that never washed their hair and smelled funny (Levine 1403). When she referred to her being of a whole other race she was saying that Roberta was either black or white which would have been the opposite race of