Recitatif: Full Plot Summary

The story begins when Twyla and Roberta, two eight-year-old girls, are introduced to each other as roommates at a children’s shelter called St. Bonaventure’s, or St. Bonny’s. One of the girls is Black while the other is white. The narrator does not specify which child is which race. Twyla says her mother would not like her being roommates with Roberta, but Roberta misunderstands and thinks Twyla means her mother would not like her being at the shelter. Roberta reveals she’s been brought there because her mother is ill. Twyla explains she is there because her mother likes to dance all night. Twyla notices that the children’s shelter houses children of many backgrounds. With the exception of Roberta and Twyla, all of the children who live at the shelter have been orphaned.

The other children ignore them, so the girls spend their time together. Twyla and Roberta form a friendship as they discover what they have in common. They both dislike Mrs. Itkin, one of the shelter workers, and they call her “the Big Bozo.” The girls both enjoy playing games like jacks together. Neither girl is a good student. Twyla likes the food at St. Bonny’s because her mother doesn’t feed her well at home. Roberta does not like the food because she is used to eating well, and she lets Twyla finish her meals. Twyla doesn’t think St. Bonny’s is that bad. Both Twyla and Roberta are afraid of the tough, older girls who live at St. Bonny’s because they bully the younger girls. They begin to call the older girls “gar girls” after Roberta mishears the pronunciation of gargoyles. The gar girls hang out at an orchard close to St. Bonny’s. Twyla and Roberta like to watch them from afar. Sometimes Maggie, the kitchen woman, cuts through the orchard. Maggie is mute, sandy-colored, short, and bowlegged. She dresses like a child. The gar girls mock her, and Twyla and Roberta call her names. When reflecting on Maggie as an adult, Twyla feels ashamed.

One day around Easter, Twyla and Roberta’s mothers visit St. Bonny’s. The girls try to pretend they are not excited, but their actions, such as curling each other’s hair, show their anticipation. Twyla is ashamed of her mother’s tight green pants and lipstick. However, she softens when her mother hugs her. Roberta’s mom is big and wears a large cross. She refuses to shake Twyla’s mother’s hand. Twyla’s mother insults her and begins to make a scene, but she quiets down when Twyla squeezes her hand. They all attend chapel, and Twyla laments the fact that her mom does not dress or act appropriately for church. After, the girls eat lunch with their mothers. Twyla’s mother fails to bring a meal, so they have to eat her Easter jellybeans. Roberta’s mother brings chicken legs and ham sandwiches. Not long after, Roberta goes home. The girls promise to keep in touch but never do. Twyla begins to forget what Roberta looks like.

Some years later, the girls, now young women, run into each other at a Howard Johnson restaurant near Newburgh, New York. Twyla is working there as a waitress while Roberta is passing through with two male friends. Before Twyla approaches her, she worries Roberta won’t remember her or won’t want to. Roberta does remember her, but she is not friendly. Roberta says they’re on their way to meet famous musician Jimi Hendrix, and she mocks Twyla for not knowing who he is. They exchange questions about their mothers, and both claim their mothers are fine. At the start of this encounter, Twyla makes several positive comments about her life and workplace, but after Roberta’s rudeness, she feels self-conscious about her appearance as well as her job.

The story flashes forward twelve years. Twyla is now married to a man named James Benson, and they have a nice middle-class life. Twyla loves her husband’s big, loud family. The Benson family has lived in the same area for decades, and they still view the city with pleasant nostalgia, but Twyla reflects that Newburgh has changed. Wealthy people are moving to some parts of Newburgh, while other residents of the town are struggling to make ends meet. On a trip to a new upscale grocery store, Twyla runs into Roberta again. This time, Roberta recognizes Twyla first and acts friendly. She invites Twyla to catch up over coffee. Twyla agrees but worries about the melting ice cream bars she’s just purchased as a splurge. Then she sees that Roberta has come grocery shopping in a limousine. Twyla tells Roberta about her husband and son. Roberta reveals she has married a wealthy widower with four children and is now Mrs. Kenneth Norton. The two women make inside jokes and are soon giggling like long-lost sisters.

When Twyla talks about the day Maggie fell in the orchard, Roberta corrects her. She says the gar girls pushed her down and attacked her. The two women go back and forth over their differing memories. Roberta tells Twyla that she went back to St. Bonny’s two more times after Twyla was gone and eventually ran away. She also tells her the Big Bozo was fired. Twyla tells Roberta she was hurt by the way she acted at their last run-in at the Howard Johnson, but Roberta says the tension between them was a result of the uneasy climate between the races in the 1960s, not anything personal. Twyla remembers the atmosphere among the races differently. She thinks Black and white people were very friendly to each other when she worked at the Howard Johnson. Roberta asks if Twyla’s mother ever stopped dancing, and Twyla says no. Twyla asks if Roberta’s mother ever got better, and Roberta says she did not. When the women leave, they promise they will remain in contact, but Twyla knows she won’t. She keeps thinking about Maggie and wondering what really happened to her that day in the orchard.

That fall, Twyla is overwhelmed by the saturated news coverage of racial tensions in Newburgh. She learns that her son will be bussed to a new school for integration and thinks it’s a good thing. Then she hears it might be a bad thing, and she isn’t sure what to believe. One day while driving by her son’s new school, she notices picketers outside. Roberta is among them. Twyla stops and the two women argue over the idea of bussing students to new schools. Roberta claims mothers have rights. Twyla is offended and says she is a mother too. She wonders aloud what made her think Roberta was different and Roberta says the same thing back to her. The picketers attack Twyla’s car and only stop when police break it up. Roberta accuses Twyla of kicking Maggie, a Black mute woman, all those years ago at the orchard. She claims they both kicked her. Twyla calls Roberta a liar. She says Maggie wasn’t Black and that she never kicked her.

The next day, Twyla begins to picket on the opposite side of Roberta. She makes picket signs that respond to Roberta’s signs. The other picketers think she is crazy because her signs don’t make sense. Finally, Twyla brings a sign that says, “IS YOUR MOTHER WELL?” and Roberta stops coming. Twyla stops going soon after. The schools don’t open until October because racial tensions continue. Twyla and some of the other mothers homeschool their kids to keep them up to date on their studies. Twyla thinks about what Roberta told her about Maggie. She knows she never kicked her, but she can’t remember if Maggie was Black or not. She didn’t think she was before, but now she isn’t sure. She realizes it doesn’t matter if she actually kicked Maggie because she wanted to. She watched it happen and didn’t try to help because she wanted Maggie to get hurt.

One winter after her son has left for college, Twyla is out shopping for a Christmas tree when she runs into Roberta at a diner. Roberta is dressed in a gown and is a little drunk. Roberta tells Twyla that she did think Maggie was Black, but now she isn’t sure. She tearfully confesses that she lied about them kicking Maggie, but that she wanted to kick her and that wanting it is the same thing. Twyla says they were just lonely kids. Roberta agrees. Twyla thanks her and asks if she ever told her that her mother never stopped dancing. Roberta says she did, and before Twyla asks, says that her own mother never got better. Roberta cries. The story ends as Roberta wonders aloud about what really happened to Maggie.