"Racism" When Reading "Recitatif"

I have read this short story before, in high school. I remember the class discussion we had, and I hope our college class discussion will be nothing like it. Basically, my high school class discussion turned in to accusations of racism, which is just silly. People say that if you assume a certain girl is black and the other one is white, you're being racist. That's just ridiculous. Everybody just calm down.

In the interview with the author, Toni Morrison, at the end of the story (pg 145-146), Morrison says that she purposefully used stereotypes to guide the reader into assuming each girl's race. By doing this, Morrison does help readers to acknowledge stereotypes and presumptuous conclusions. I'll go ahead and say it: I think Twyla is the white girl and Roberta is the black girl. There are many reasons for this. The most obvious one is that I am white, so I identify the narrator as white. When I start reading anything, I immediately assume that the narrator is a white female until I am explicitly told otherwise. I am not saying I am right to do this, I am just acknowledging that this is a habit I have. Throughout the story, though, I feel there is plenty of evidence to back up my initial assumption.

The biggest textual pieces of support for my assumptions are that I think it would be more likely for the black girl to be going to see Hendrix (pg 135), and I feel like it’s more like the white woman not to care that her boy is being bussed (pg 140 – 141).

 Arguments could be made either way for which girl is white and which is black. Ultimately, it is impossible to know for sure, and it doesn’t really matter. The point of this story is just to get readers to think about their preconceived notions and assumptions.

What I Think about James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues"

This is James Baldwin:
 
 I always think it's interesting to have a picture of the author, so you can better understand where she or he is coming from.

James Baldwin captures the reader in suspense from the very beginning of the story, beginning the narrative in medias res. The very first sentence entices the reader, making her want to know what the narrator had read. Baldwin continues to draw out the plot of the story by giving various flash backs and jumping from current to past and past to current, until finally, the reader arrives at the end of the story, and is disappointed. Although I did not particularly enjoy this story, I had to keep reading it because I wanted to know what happened. However, at the end of the story, I'm not exactly sure what happened. I do not fully understand the last scene.

In the last scene, the narrator finally seems to understand his brother, and furthermore himself, as if the music his brother makes sets him free and opens his mind, heart, and soul to a whole life he had never known before. In this scene, the story seemed to be saying "The ends do justify the means. It is okay for Sonny to do drugs. That's just who Sonny is and who Sonny always will be." In the story, the narrator even observes: "...I heard what he had been through, and would continue to go through until he came to rest in earth." (pg 100, 2nd full par.). That whole paragraph, especially from that sentence on, just seems too pessimistic and apathetic. This sense of pessimism is enforced earlier in the story on page 95 in the fourth full paragraph when Sonny says: " 'Like you did something, all right, and now you're suffering for it. You know? ... why do people suffer? Maybe it's better to do something to give it a reason, any reason.' " And then in the ending scene, after reading the second to last paragraph, the whole story felt anticlimactic. There was no saving change, no life decisions, nothing got better. Just more of the same old same old. The narrator even says "...the world waited outside, as hungry as a tiger, and that trouble stretched above us, longer than the sky." (pg 100)

In the story's defense, it is refreshing to read something that is not predictable or easily understood. It is good to challenge readers to look at things in new ways and consider alternatives to the norm they expect. There are many reasons why I may not understand this story as well as I could. First off, I've never personally struggled with drugs. I am biased as loved-one who has attempted to deal with and understand the person struggling with drugs. Secondly, I am not a musician. I do write though, and I feel that it is not at all necessary for me to use drugs to become inspired as is suggested in the story (pg 94). And finally, I am not very religious, and I do not understand the ending reference to the bible, which I feel is supposed to be very meaningful, despite the footnote (pg. 101).

I am sure discussion in class will help me see this story in ways I never imagined, and it will gain new meaning for me.