Recitatif by Toni Morrison

“Recitatif” by Toni Morrison

The story written by Toni Morrison was very sympathy to me. It was about the two girls of different colors who have met at the orphan hostel; St. Bonny’s. They were the only ones who were dumped by their parents, lived at St. Bonny at the early age of eight. One day their mothers visited them. Twyla hated the way her mother acted and wore. Twyla's mother Mary is dressed inappropriately. Roberta’s mother wore a big cross on her big chest.

Eight years later, Twyla and Roberta meet again at Twyla’s workplace; Howard Johnson. Roberta was married to a rich man who is IBM executive and Twyla was married to a firefighter. Twyla is regarded as the low- middle class. While having a chat with Twyla, they both wanted to share a funny story about their lives at St. Bonny, the silly girls and Maggie. Roberta was insisting her that Maggie was black and Twyla didn’t forget a single thing. She remembered all the things. She wasn’t. But in the end, Roberta realized that she was not black. Their conversation is sympathetic.

I noticed in the story that Twyla’s mother was about to shake hands with Roberta’s mother but Roberta’s mother resisted, saying nothing. The racial issues increase, at the same time as the two characters start recollecting the incident in St. Bonaventure’s shelter where they’ve lived for a while - Maggie, kitchen worker, either was pushed down or fell down in the orchard. Roberta and Twyla used to play, talk and sleep together no matter of the skin color issues. Later, Roberta was confused about the color of Maggie because she was concerned about her disability, not her skin color. This is a never-ending story; Christmas is a sign of the birth of new relationships and experiences, but racial subjects remain the same.

This is a good start for the people who have experienced racism. It helped them to realize that socializing with other color group would help them reduce the racial issues rather living in their own houses.

Zelzah by Norma Fox Mazer

Zelzah: A Tale From Long Ago By Norma Fox Mazer

Zelzah lived in Poland with her 5 sisters. Zelzah was the second oldest of five daughters. Her mother strongly believed the different names of her daughters made an impact on their lives. Aelzah means Shade-in-the-Heat. All the sisters hated sharing a big bed. They wanted to have own beds but couldn’t afford to buy. They were poor.

At the age of nine, Zelzah worked on the farm and did some duties for the old people who could not do their duties in the house. She was paid low-wage. Her parents wanted her to get a good husband but her sister, Shulamith wanted to get married too. Later Aunt Hannah, Zelzah’s mother’s own sister, sent Zelzah’s parents a letter saying that Aunt Hannah got four sons; one of them got married to American girl. Other one of her sons, Jack needed a wife. So Hannah wanted to ask her parent if Zelzah could get married to Jack so she came to America to stay with them. Later on, Jack got her girlfriend pregnant which sent Zelzah to live somewhere on her own. She went to the school and work. She sent money to her family so that Shulamith came to join her in USA. Shulamith got married off to a man.

Later on her parents died in Poland. She was finding difficult to live in USA. She thought of getting married better off and wanted to have some happiness in her life but could not achieve her dream. She was comparing alot from her home country, Poland and US. Her life was simple in Poland rather than in US.

Little Saigon by David St. John

Little Saigon by David St. John

The story is about the two sisters and their mother. Their father was a Buddhist who died. They are planning to leave their own place of murders, the old police and mothers’ friends in search of a better place to live. They wanted to leave France for United State. Ngoc Be and Mai Chi were boarded the boat separately from their mother by Jack Pirate.

On the boat voyage, the man did not give water and food to the two sisters and planned to have sex with Ngoc Be for few weeks. Sailors from the fishing ship found them and lock the Jack Pirates. Sailors took them and shipped to Little Saigon, California in America. They were waiting for their mother but she didn’t come. She died in the sea by the storm that made the boat overbroad.

Their Aunt Kahnh , their mother’s sister, heard this and came to take the two sisters from Saigon and went back to Paris. They were able to take care of them. The two sisters looked at the painting and remembered about their mother. They felt that mother was telling them that she was finally safe but Mai Chi whispered to Ngoc Be that they were finally safe too.

I feel pity on them because they lost their loved one, mother. I am hoping that they are going to have better future. They get good education and better job and get married to a good family.

The Setting Sun and the Rolling World by Charles Mungoshi