lulu paper

School of Foreign Languages, Hebei University of Science and Technology

1. Introduction

Toni Morrison is one of the most important contemporary

American female black writers. She is the first black woman

awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. She was born in a black

family and influenced by black culture since childhood. Her works

shape the main characters from a cultural perspective, “working

hard to maintain and promote black culture.” (Hughes, 1970:11)

Morrison believes that in order to survive, black people must

retain black culture in addition to a political and economic

independence. Morrison initially entered the literary world just

because of the love for literature, to some extent also for

alleviating the suffering of her own life. At the beginning when

she published works, African-American civil rights movement

reached a new climax. This makes her naturally connect personal

suffering and the reality of black women’s lives together. As a

result, a unique style with a myth of color and politically

sensation organically combined is created in her works.

In Morrison’s creative process, it can be said that she

successfully combines realism and myth. She is good at describing

the image of women with the spoken language and symbols in order

to render an atmosphere of folklore and fairy tales. But more

importantly, she creates progressive cultural trends,

illustrating the development of self-consciousness of blacks in

American society, which no doubt benefits from the results of her

culture research especially the research of the use of feminist

doctrine.

Recitatif was published after The Bluest Eye in 1983. It is a fairly

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short story among all her novels. It describes the exclusion and

integration of the white culture and black culture as well as the

conflict and complex relationship by “dramatic narrator” from

Twyla’s perspective, highlighting the issues of race, gender and

culture. It explains black woman Robert seeking the process of

self-reconstruction and her “double consciousness”. And it also

illustrates the black racial consciousness, social awareness and

the spirit of fighting for freedom, equality and resistance.

2. Toni Morrison’s View of Racial

Consciousness

2.1 Not supporting racial dualism

In Recitatif, Morrison for the first time describes the

reconciliation and friendship between whites and blacks. Although

the heroes are all females and the novel also refers to the

feminist movement, “the intention of the author’s writing is not

limited to this.” (Jiang, 2008:86) From the novel we can explore

some of the views of the author about the black movement.

Obviously, she is in the favor of the positive integration of the

black community, struggling for their rights and interests. She

also thinks that this is a big progress for blacks and is

appreciated. This is exactly the purpose of shaping the hero

Roberta.

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“Recitatif is an experiment of the removal of all racial codes

through the two heroines, who are two characters of different

races in this novel and for whom racial identity is

crucial.”(Roberson, 2003:89) Her first book The Bluest Eye was

published in 1970. It tells that a black girl wants to have a

pair of beautiful blue eyes, but is thrown into even more hurt.

The story is an irony of a popular slogan “black is beautiful” at

that time; it is an interrogation to the black community in

pursuit of a beautiful white style. It wins for the author the

title of “literary observers of contemporary African American

society.” (Wang, 1999:9)

At home and abroad, most scholars have focused on the author’s

long novels such as Beloved, The Bluest Eye. For the scholars who

study Recitatif, their views are different. Some scholars believe

that the white women in the novel are used as black’s foil.

Compared with whites, blacks show the following characteristics:

a spiritual pursuit (Roberta’s mother has brought the Bible, and

Mary are keen to dance), love (Roberta mother brings many gifts

to Roberta, but Mary comes with empty-hands), patience (Maggie is

scolded and beaten but remains in silence; Mary abuses Roberta’s

mother), racial awareness (Roberta always remembers Maggie’s

humiliation and deepens understanding of it, but Twyla and her

mother and father-in-law focus on the mostly trivial things),

social knowledge (Roberta knows about the current status of race

relations, while Twyla does not know, or even does not know the

sex of Hendrix, who is famous over the whole country), the spirit

of resistance (Roberta and many blacks go to the streets to

protest, but Twyla is indifferent about this). These natures of

blacks have some relations with the black experience of

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discrimination and the fighting for equality, which is

illustrated in her works. (Tao, 2006:322). This analysis is based

on the racial antagonism for blacks and whites. This view is

rooted in the history of racial discrimination against the black

movement. In fact, Toni Morrison is not in favor of the

radicalization of the struggle movement. For Twyla, the new white

generation who does not intend to oppress black people, “the

author hopes that blacks and whites could reach a settlement.

That is why in the novel Twyla and Roberta finally make

friends.”(Zhang, 2006:50) The difference of cultural values

between blacks and whites makes countless blacks, who live

outside the mainstream of culture, especially in the bottom of

the black community, remain a spiritual confusion. They get lost

in the past, present and future life of black and white. They

need to reinvent the concept of this race. In the novel, Morrison

does not say the race of the two protagonists. In addition, she

also describes that they have a dispute of the ethnic

identification of Maggie. The purpose of writing this is to avoid

the racial dualism. So the sentence “Morrison’s purpose in

writing the novel is to make blacks and whites in racial

conflict” is too biased. (Bakhtin, 1984:16) However, Morrison

says that she played with white children when she was a child.

They never paid attention to the racial identity of each other.

Lorraine is small and poor, or even does not have the necessary

social structures of racial discrimination, so Morrison’s concept

of race is less strong. Only the setback in the first love makes

her strongly aware of her black identity. We can see that it is

not correct to emphasize different ethnic friendship in Recitatif as

racial dualism, but rather to explore its deeper meaning.

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By incorporating storytelling devices in her work, Morrison

invites us into a communicative relationship between the author

and the audience. Her novels exemplify the connection between

narrative and ethical experience, and the dialogic author-

audience relation. Moreover, the storytelling techniques cannot

be separated from its ideological implications in delivering

memories and experiences of the past. And Morrison challenges our

beliefs of morality by introducing the African American life

experiences. Her ethical treatment of the complex situation in

Beloved and Sula deepens our understanding of the racism which has

not been so vividly described in any history book.

2.2 Reconstruction of racial consciousness

From another perspective, in Recitatif, Morrison, using the

narrative words of the two girls, intends to rebuild the black

racial culture. Blacks live in the society which the white

cultural consciousness is the mainstream. Black culture

intertwines with the white one, entangled and interdependent.

Blacks consciously or unconsciously suffer from the impact of

white culture, and their feet are still trapped in the quagmire

of the tragic history of blacks and this arouses instinct

hostility to the white in mind. “In such a society in which they

live, blacks are not free to take their own ways to live. Blacks

with historical shackles need to take more detours than white in

order to find their own positions.” (Tang, 2009:75)

With the urbanization of American society, suddenly black

people find themselves becoming cultural orphans, just as they

live in a black island with white culture around. The loss both

in mental and in cultural make the blacks divisive: “Part of the

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ownership of property has become a black middle class. In order

to gain the equal rights in the white society, they accept white

cultural patterns; while the other part of the blacks, they

adhere to stick to the original values; more extreme ones even

move to the black racism.” (Strouse, 1981:20) However, Morrison

does not agree to these two ideas. She thinks that black history

and tradition reflects their cultural values and of course they

can not be separated. Tolerance should not be the ultimate value

of black culture. (Wang, 2008:86) As a woman writer, her works is

produced beyond the social level. Instead, they are carried out

in order to change the human mind towards blacks, consciously

touching the sensitive nerve of the black culture and reflecting

the general black cultural conflict in the context of perplexity

and confusion. She believes that only in the basis of

understanding their own culture can blacks love themselves, love

family, love neighbor, love whites, love humanity and identity

ancestors with the spirit of universal love so as to get rid of

the burden of cultural loss and obtain real freedom in spirit. In

Recitatif, Morrison illustrates the process of black culture through

describing Roberta’s growth. Morrison can not forget the past of

blacks, and is full of memory and praise on black history and

culture. She wants to go through their own efforts to awaken

people’s attitudes towards blacks, showing the history of self-

growth of blacks.

Since the abolition of slavery in 1365, the United States

Constitution and the federal organization recognized social

rights of black, such as equality and freedom. However, in real

life, African Americans were not really equal in the society

dominated by whites. They still lived in the bottom of society.

6


In many ways, blacks and whites could not enjoy the same

treatment. In particular, the absurd ideas and policies “separate

with equal” (Li, 2008:94) made blacks become out of tune with the

white community in schools, public facilities, transportation and

other social spheres. It is the discrimination and oppression

that arouses black people’s fighting again and again. After World

War One, notable feature of African-American civil rights

movement was just like what it was 60 years ago. Blacks, in a

lager extent, hoped to rely on the government legislation to gain

their rights. At this stage, they were more resort to the court

to resolve the issue of infringement of the rights of black. From

60 years later, blacks in the civil rights movement moved into

the society and a mass struggle was formed. They no longer hoped

to passively receive the right, not want to “quietly wait for a

little bit charity from someone, giving our legal and moral

right”. (Cui, 1993:48) Instead, through demonstrations, marches

and other non-violent actions, they fought for an equal right.

3. Interpretation of Toni Morrison’s Racial

Consciousness

Recitatif is Toni Morrison’s published short story. The title

alludes to a style of musical declamation that hovers between

song and ordinary speech. It is used for dialogic and narrative

interludes during operas and oratories. The term “Recitatif” also

once includes the now-obsolete meaning, “the tone or rhythm

peculiar to any language”. (Jiang, 2008:85) Both of these

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definitions suggest the story’s episodic nature, how each of the

story’s five sections happens in a register that is different

from the respective ordinary lives of its two central characters,

Roberta and Twyla. The story’s vignettes bring together the

rhythms of two lives for five short moments, all of them narrated

in Twyla’s own voice. The story is, then, in several ways,

Twyla’s “Recitatif”.

3.1 Meeting by chance and establishing friendship

Twyla and Robert have the similar unfortunate families and

similar childhood – Twyla’s mother dances all night, because of

which she is sent to the charity school; Robert enters the

charity school due to her mother’s illness throughout the year.

In the charity school, they become friends. They get “F” in each

subject, fight against the big girls and see the black women

Maggie suffering bully. They are not orphans but worse than

orphans. By writing this way, the author intends to narrow the

distance between black and white, making the white and black

being friends. Therefore, we can see that it is not correct to

emphasize different ethnic friendship in Recitatif as racial

dualism, but rather to explore its deeper meaning.

The narrator of Recitatif Twyla opens the curtain of the story

with a scene in her memory several years ago: because her mother

is keen to dancing and has no time to take after her, she is

taken to the charity school when she is eight yeas old. What is

more annoying, she has to live in a house with another color

Roberta:

“It didn’t start out that way. The minutes I walked in and

the Big Bozo introduced us; I got sick to my stomach. It

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was one thing to be taken out of your own bed early in the

morning—it was something else to be stuck in a strange

place with a girl from a whole other race”. (Tao, 2006:323)

However, the two girls do not have any alienation due to race,

but have actually suffered the same fate: Roberta’s mother has

not died, she may rely on an excuse—she is suffered from obesity—

to abandon her own daughter. For Twyla and Roberta are “fault

orphans”, they suffer the rejection and ridicule from the true

orphans in the orphanage and the big girls who come here because

of misbehaviors. They get “F” together in the courses and

gradually become friends. They together have a big preparation

for the first visit of their mothers: combing, dressing and

washing clothes for each other. Although the mothers have spent

only a few hours, two children are excited for a long time. Those

few hours leave in Twyla’s mind for a long period. Twyla also

remembers particularly the female servant named Maggie in the

orphanage kitchen. She and Roberta laughed at her once. She also

recall that Maggie fell down one day but does not remember why.

Morrison chooses personal narrative voice, recalling Twyla’s

childhood with her voice. Through her voice, we can see Robert’s

childhood, their mother’s image, the madness of big girls,

Maggie’s submissive and deeply exposed racial discrimination and

brutal torture of black women. In the first encounter of Twyla

and Robert, they refer to Maggie. The following is a dialogue

between Twyla and Robert:

“But what about if somebody tries to kill her?” I used

to wonder about that.

“Or what if she wants to cry? Can she cry?”

I said. “We'll scream together”.

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“Sure,” Roberta said. “But just tears. No sounds come

out.”

“She can’t scream?”

“Nope. Nothing”

“Can she hear?”

“Let’s call her,” I said. And we did.

“Dummy! Dummy!” she never turned her head. (Tao,

2006:325)

This dialogue makes an unspeakable image of black women leaping

off the paper. In a society of racial discrimination, black women

suffering double discriminations is defined as: “Black women are

the world’s mule.” The patience and labor is a permanent black

women’s part. They lose the “self” in a state of aphasia, and do

not clear about what their history is. Maggie is also the case.

She would not scream. For her, there are only quiet tears.

Morrison’s choice for her narrator is direct freedom of speaking.

She establishes the authority of her voice through the discourse

of African American community. She also exposes that black women

is in the miserable situation and it is necessary to abuse the

crimes who suppress the voice of black women.

In the forties and fifties of the twentieth century, black

writers protested strongly that blacks in American society were

at the edge of alienation and exclusion. The heroines in

Morrison’s novels have something in common, that is all of them

grew up with struggle. They gradually lose their specific ethnic

identity so that they grow ups and downs. In Recitatif, from the

surface we may say it is written from the perspective of Twyla

and Roberta. But if we analyze carefully, there is a dispensable

character – old female black woman Maggie. This is a main line

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through the text. The author considers her as the image of the

older generation of black people. She is old, ugly and deaf and

like a mule doing the same things such as the kitchen chores. She

always wear a funny hat. When the big girls bully her, what she

can do is to bear. Maggie is the representative of black slavery

for centuries and is the nightmare from one generation to

another. For black girl Roberta, Maggie represents her extremely

hatred and ashamed history which she dare not face. Maggie’s

image has been lingering in the minds of Roberta, and ultimately

become a spiritual burden to her. For each black, remembering the

history of their ancestors is a painful feeling, like eating

their souls and hazing their hearts. As a result, blacks

inherently bear heavier historical shackles than whites. Roberta

is afraid to face the past and feel ashamed of Maggie’s behaves.

As described in the text:

“She and my mother grew up in the same environment; I think

they are the same with me. You are right, we did kick her.

But, uh, at that time, I wanted to kick. I really want to

hurt her.” (Tao, 2006:324)

3.2 Overturning the traditional image of black women and

starting to look for female self-consciousness

In the mid-twentieth century, Martin Luther King, as the

leader for the abolition of racial discrimination, launched a

massive campaign with African-Americans in order to safeguard the

legal rights of blacks, but was unfortunately assassinated by the

white race. Then national black movement suddenly surged, setting

off a massive nationwide protests. With simultaneous anti-war

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movement, the civil rights movement and women’s liberation

movement connected, forming a huge shock wave of American

society. It plays a significant role in the society: the young

Americans show their dissatisfaction about the society with the

strange appearance, drug abuse and alcoholism. It is American

youth in the sixties of the twentieth century in their own way

that fought against the cultural mainstream, such as social and

moral ethics, utilitarianism, sexual repression, money, betrayal

and others. At this time Roberta and Twyla meet again after

growing up:

“She was sitting in a booth smoking a cigarette with two

guys smothered in head and facial hair. Her own hair was so

big and wild I could hardly see her face. She had on a

powder-blue halter and shorts outfit and earrings the size

of bracelets…” (Tao, 2006:327)

At this time Roberta is different from what she was when she

was a child. Typical hippies dresses almost make her childhood

friend Twyla not recognize her. Black women in the traditional

sense seem to be fantasy although they try their best to catch up

the ideological trend. But as a new generation of black women,

Roberta has gone in the forefront of the times. She not only uses

the strange appearance to express social discontent and revolt,

but also makes more extensive friends, actively integrating into

the society. We have to recognize that it is the historical

background that creates Roberta’s cold and rude on Twyla. In

Roberta’s eyes, Twyla is not an old friend, but only an ignorant

white woman and the black oppressor. Roberta has grown a lot at

this time and she has integrated into society and the times. She

is no longer ashamed of their own race, but bravely faces

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history, fighting for the black equality and freedom.

Although since the abolition of slavery in 1365, the United

States Constitution and the federal organization recognized

social rights of black, such as equality and freedom, in real

life, African Americans were not really equal in the society

dominated by whites. They still lived in the bottom of society.

In many ways, blacks and whites could not enjoy the same

treatment. In particular, the absurd ideas and policies “separate

with equal” made blacks become out of tune with the white

community in schools, public facilities, transportation and other

social spheres. It was the discrimination and oppression that

aroused black people’s fighting again and again. After World War

One, notable feature of African-American civil rights movement

was just like what it was 60 years ago. Blacks, in a lager

extent, hoped to rely on the Government legislation to gain their

rights. At this stage, they were more resort to the court to

resolve the issue of infringement of the rights of black. From 60

years later, blacks in the civil rights movement moved into the

society and a mass struggle was formed. They no longer hoped to

passively receive the right, not want to “quietly wait for a

little bit charity from someone, giving our legal and moral

right”. Instead, through demonstrations, marches and other non-

violent actions, they fought for an equal right.

3.3 Integrating into mainstream culture

“Magnificent old house, so ruined they had become shelter

for squatters and rent risks, were bought and renovated.

Smart IBM people moved out of their suburbs back into the

city and put shutters up and herb gardens in their

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backyards. The classical music piped over the aisles had

affected me and the woman learning toward me was dressed to

kill. Diamonds in her hand, a smart white summer dress… ”

(Tao, 2006:328)

After Twyla’s marriage, she meets Roberta again, when Roberta is

wearing gorgeously. She is elegant and masters certain knowledge.

It can be seen that she has been fully integrated into the

mainstream of society. After leaving Charity school for 20 years,

Twyla and Robert can come across as sisters after a long

conversation with cordial. Roberta has two servants and private

drivers, and she has great changes in position and thought. This

is because in the 70s, ethnic conflicts are eased in the United

States and social status and living conditions of blacks have

improved significantly.

Roberta is very sensitive of her own black identity. When they

talk about their interesting childhood, they mention the issue of

Maggie again. From Roberta’s narration, readers seem to see

Roberta constantly tries to deprive Twyla voice on the memory, so

Twyla is confused at the memory of Maggie. At the beginning,

Twyla is very sure that she does not kick Maggie and would never

do that. But then, she is not sure whether Maggie is black or

white. She is not sure about this point. Though she does not kick

her, she wants her to be kicked. In Twyla’s memory, Maggie’s legs

look like her mother’s dancing legs. Twyla has dreamed Maggie for

many times. The big girls bully her and she and Roberta have ever

laughed at her. This kind of thinking influences her life. As a

white woman of middle class, she dare not speak out her ideas and

is very satisfied about life. And for Roberta, does she hate

Maggie when she was a child? Gradually, she becomes very

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realistic and very brave to face the life. She could not forget

that Maggie, this representative of blacks, has ever been bullied

by others and at that time she herself still wants Maggie to be

beaten. She can speak all this out because she is beginning to

enter the current society and going after the mainstream of the

culture. She has the responsibility to say something for the

blacks.

“We did not kick her. Is that bad girl who did it. But I

really wanted them to hurt her. I said that we played with

her, you and me. That's not true. I do not want you to bear

the burden.” (Tao, 2006:328)

We see as the narrator of the story of Maggie, they both are

participants in the incident. For their stories and comments on

the story, readers have reason to doubt.

“Oh, Twyla, you know how it was in those days: black-white.

You know how everything was.” (Tao, 2006:330)

From this sentence we can see that Roberta is very clear about

the society. Blacks are discriminated by the whites and what they

should do is to protest their own rights.

3.4 Fighting for freedom and equality in racial strife

“It is not about us, Twyla. Me and you. It is about our

kids”

“What is more us than that?”

“Well, it is a free country.”

“Not yet, but it will be.” (Tao, 2006:333)

The fourth reunion happenes when Roberta is in the procession

and Twyla finds her. A few words clearly indicate the two

diametrically different views of world. Just like in all white

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woman family, children are Twyla’s whole world. She is law-

abiding, honest, and her family is also a small conservative

society, clinging to the old way of life. They all talk about

trivial things; while Roberta is concerned, she goes out of the

family and a wider world is waiting for her. She believes that in

such a free society, everyone has the right to protect their

interests. She goes to the streets again and again and fights for

their own interests with the vast majority of women. She is the

representative of black women in a new era. Compared with

Maggie’s inability to declare, a new generation of black women

Roberta is undoubtedly going forward with a big step, although it

is not created as wild as Sula in Morrison’s The Bluest Eyes,

Roberta has a racial consciousness; she actively engages in

the democratic movement against apartheid.

“What are you doing?”

“Picketing. What is it look like?”

“What for?”

“What do you mean what for? They want to take my kids and

send them out of the neighborhood. They don’t want to go. ”

“So what if they go to anther school? My boy’s being bussed

too, and I don’t mind. Why should you? “

“It is not about us, Twyla. Me and you. It is about our

kids.”

“What is more us than that?”

“Well, it is a free country.” (Tao, 2006:333)

A group of black women go to the streets to protest the own

rights as Roberta the leader. They speak out for the freedom and

equality, showing the spirit of solidarity and resistance of the

black community. They not only fight for black rights, but also

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struggle for the whole of the country’s democracy. But Twyla

lacks critical thinking and is easily content with material world

with spiritual deficiency. So in order to change tragic fate of

the blacks as represented by Maggie, all of them, both whites and

blacks need to overthrow white discrimination against blacks.

The middle-class of whites such as Twyla sticks to the

traditional Western values and maintain discrimination against

black and disabled, which hinders the process of the democratic

movement. Therefore, the new society not only requires the

reconstruction of blacks, but also need to strengthen education

of whites. Roberta is not only a model for other blacks to learn,

but also the example of whites such as Twyla.

“What was she saying? Black? Maggie wasn’t black.”

“She wasn’t black” I said

“Like hell she wasn’t, and you kicked her. We both did. You

kicked a black lady who could not ever scream.”

“Lair!”

“You are the lair! Why don’t you just go on home and leave

us alone, huh?”(Tao, 2006:334)

There is a dispute between Twyla and Roberta. The central

issue is the color of Maggie. The passage does not tell us the

color of Maggie. From here we can see that the author does not

want to tell the difference between blacks and whites. She does

not say the color of Maggie because she thinks the race is not

important. What is important lies in the understanding of the

history, both whites and blacks.

3.5 Calling for self-reconstruction

In the past 34 years, because of the continuous efforts of the

17


black struggle, the United States carried out a range of changes

affecting the whole society: the middle class of blacks rose in

the society. Blacks greatly changed in income, education level

and lifestyle. By 1989, the income of one third of black

households surpassed 315 million. African Americans were

increasingly going out of so-called “humble” position in

employment. More and more Blacks were among the “senior” career.

Economic and political advancement made black people recall their

past with a more detached perspective and equal way. In such a

social environment, when the two meet again on Christmas Eve many

years later, ultimately Roberta rationally and objectively

recalls the past and recognizes that Twyla does not beat Maggie.

The previous misunderstandings are due to her natural human

hostility towards the whites. In the novel’s conclusion, Roberta

and “I” encounter again. They become friends again. Because of

ethnic confrontation, Roberta enlarges the irrational hatred of

all whites, leading to her prejudice and subjective to the

whites. After experiencing many twists, their friendship at last

turns to be normal.

The being beaten of Maggie and Twyla and Roberta’s growing-up

go hand in hand. They run into each other in the store again at

Christmas Eve. Both of them recall the issue of Maggie. At this

time they figure out the past. Roberta conducts a self-dissection

but seems disingenuous:

“You are right. We did not kick her. It was the gar girls.

Only them. But, well I want to. I really wanted to. I said

we did it, too. You and me, but that is not true. And I do

not want you to carry that around...” (Tao, 2006:335)

Twyla also wants to completely eliminate this with spam, so she

18


persuades Roberta. At the end of the story, Roberta starts to cry

uncontrollably. The last sentence of the novel: “Oh shit, Twyla.

Shit, shit, shit. What the hell happened to Maggie?” Tears

illustrate that how stubbornly self-conciseness of race resists

with the negative memory and also show that it is difficult to

face the past. At this point, the two friends who share the same

memory should be mutually helped and the early childhood

friendship of Twyla and Roberta has exceeded the boundaries of

race. They have strengthened ethnic consciousness and it is not

the national anti-cultural movement, so no dispute can come

between them. But the real friendship is helping them to grow up

and they should not forget the price of friendship.

When talking about Maggie, Roberta admits that she is not sure

that whether Maggie is black or not. But Roberta also refers to

Maggie like her mother. When Maggie falls down, she does want big

girls to hurt her. Roberta put up with the question “What the

hell happened to Maggie?” She also shows her confusion of the

status of black history. From Roberta’s feeling to the white

(first hatred, then confusion and at last making friends with

them), we seem to see the prevailing conflict and struggle of a

new generation of African Americans. On the one hand, they live

in the society as white culture being the mainstream,

intertwining with the white society and they consciously or

unconsciously suffer from white culture. On the other hand, they

are trapped in the quagmire of the tragic history of blacks, and

are instinctively hostile towards white people. In such a society

in which they live, they can not find their own living ways. In

order to find a way out, they need to take more detours than

whites.

19


Although the author set an open end, the rebuilding of the

friendship between Roberta and Twyla open up a broad road of love

between whites and blacks. Just as the hero Bitela in Song of

Solomon in 1977, vast and selfless love is his ultimate weapon to

eliminate hatred and realize their value in life. Out of the

narrow view of nationalism, building equal relationship between

blacks and whites is the trauma medicine for the majority of

black.

4. Conclusion

Morrison has clearly stated: Recitatif tries to erase races

involving two kinds of people of different races, although to the

characters themselves, the ethnic identity is always the key

point. (Bakhtin, 1984: 136) The current life is so meaningful

because of the past and the hideous face of the past will never

disappear if we do not criticize it. Only do African Americans go

out of the shadow of the past and face the period of suffering

lasting three hundred years in the history can they draw strength

from the black people in history to heal wounds and rebuild the

national consciousness. Morrison believes that blacks should not

forget the past or dwell on the past. Remembering history is not

to remember the hatred, but to better grasp the present and tne

furure. Only when blacks have a correct understanding of their

history and ethnic status and the relationship between ethnic and

social reality, can they achieve freedom and happiness in the

future.

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How to face the history and have a better grasp of both

present and future? This problem confuses the contemporary

African Americans. Black women writers represented by Toni

Morrison focus on the new narrative words of slavery in order to

reorganize the history of slavery, amend the historical memory

and promote the national cultural rehabilitation and condition.

The black women writers attempted to resist the discourse of

racism, marginalization and social status in Western literature,

hoping to awaken national consciousness and reconstruct national

identity.

References

[1] Bakhtin, M.M. 1984. A conversation with Toni Morrison. Caryl Emerson

(ed) Trans. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press.

[2] Hughes, Langston. 1970. The negro artist and the racial mountain. New

York: New York University Press.

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[3] Strouse, Jean. 1981. Toni Morrison’s black magic. Santa Barbara:

Capra Press.

[4] Peach, Linden. 1995. Toni Morrison. Basingstoke. New York: Random

House.

[5] Roberson, Gloria. 2003. The world of Toni Morrison: a guide to characters

and p1aces in her novels. Westport: Greenford Press.

[6] Samuel, Wilfred D. & Weems, Clenora H. 1990. Toni Morrison.

Boston: Twayne Publishers.

[7] Cui，T. [崔崔]。1993 崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔，，，《》 4: 44－50。

[8] Chang，Y. [崔崔崔]。2003 崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔，。《》 : 崔崔崔崔崔崔崔。

[9] Jiang，L.[崔崔]。2008 崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔，，，《》《》 4: 85－

87。

[10] Li，X.[崔崔]。2008 崔崔崔崔，·崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔《》《》，西， 6: 93－96。

[11] Li，X. [崔崔崔]。2007，崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔女崔崔崔崔崔，，《》 1: 8－10。

[12] Tao，J. [崔崔]。2006 崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔，。《》 : 崔崔崔崔崔崔崔。

[13] Tang，Z.[崔崔]。2009 崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔，，，《》 7: 75－76。

[14] Wang，W.[崔崔]。1999 崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔，，，《》 3 : 8 – 10。

[15] Wang，X.[崔崔崔]。2008，崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔，，《》 4: 86－87。

[16] Zhang，R. [崔崔崔]。2006 崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔崔，。：《》。

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