Confirmation: An Anthology of African American Women<\/em><\/a>, it tells the story of Twyla and Roberta, two girls of different races who first meet in an orphanage and bond partly because they’ve been assigned to the same room and partly because the other kids consider them outsiders because their mothers are still alive. The story follows the two characters as they age and provides a microcosm of racial conflict in America and the roles that memory and perception play in that conflict.<\/p>\nOne of the many things I admire about the story was Morrison’s ability to omit (or obfuscate) the races of Twyla and Roberta while still offering the reader plenty of rich details about the characters and the settings they move through. It\u2019s clearly the author\u2019s intention to use this obfuscation to force any reasonably intelligent reader to really think about his or her own notions about race and stereotypes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no easy feat, and stands in stark contrast with the descriptions in works by other African-American authors (for instance, Thulani Davis\u2019 novel 1959<\/em>, wherein we absolutely know all the characters\u2019 races but get at best generic details about people\u2019s clothes, furniture, food, etc.) It\u2019s not enough to simply omit a character\u2019s skin color; stereotyped racial traits are legion, and Morrison either avoids or deftly employs them. She does a masterful job of assigning Twyla and Roberta traits, backgrounds, accessories and interests that really could be interpreted as either \u201cwhite\u201d or \u201cblack,\u201d depending.<\/p>\nTake Twyla\u2019s and Roberta\u2019s absent mothers as a major example of the racial blurring in the story. Twyla\u2019s mother \u201cdanced all night and Roberta\u2019s was sick.\u201d Later, we learn that Roberta\u2019s mother is \u201cBigger than any man and on her chest was the biggest cross I\u2019d ever seen.\u201d It\u2019s a racial stereotype to think of black women as promiscuous\/irresponsible (usually via the cultural image of the welfare mother with a brood of children via a dozen different men), yet there are clearly plenty of promiscuous\/irresponsible white women in the world. But there\u2019s an equally strong stereotype of the large, fervently religious black woman. We know from the context of the story that one mother is white and the other is black, but given the rest of their descriptions, it\u2019s impossible to choose a race for either with any certainty.<\/p>\n
The issue of handling race in my descriptions is one I wrestle with. As a white writer raised in the South, I\u2019m acutely aware that I may be laboring under still-unexamined racist notions. I don\u2019t want to portray my characters in a way that perpetuates stereotypes.<\/p>\n
When I was writing my third novel, I tried an experiment. My secondary characters in that book are a variety of races, and I deliberately avoided describing skin color entirely, relying on other cues (clothes, family names, etc.) to convey nationality or ethnicity. The copy editor actually wanted me to put skin color descriptions into the narrative, but I successfully ignored that bit of feedback. Ultimately, very few readers noticed one way or the other \u2013 it\u2019s possible that to some, the characters \u201cread\u201d as default Caucasian \u2013 but those who did notice seemed a bit perturbed that they couldn\u2019t tell if a particular character was black or white.<\/p>\n
I still don\u2019t know if my experiment was worthwhile or not. It did force me to focus on other details, which I\u2019m sure resulted in better descriptions. But because I still worry I may be handing nonwhite characters poorly, I\u2019m going to keep \u201cRecitatif\u201d on hand as a master class in how to use descriptions in truly thought-provoking ways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Recitatif is the French word for recitative, which is a type of spoken performance that’s a combination of regular speech and singing, similar to the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31],"tags":[92,94],"class_list":["post-2075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","tag-characterization","tag-short-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Toni_Morrison_2008.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8qT6f-xt","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1594,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/the-drowning-girl\/","url_meta":{"origin":2075,"position":0},"title":"The Drowning Girl: A Memoir","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"September 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Drowning Girl: A Memoir is a fictional memoir of madness, haunting and loss written by Caitl\u00edn R. Kiernan. The novel was published in 2012 by Roc Books (an imprint of Penguin). It was nominated\u00a0for\u00a0the Nebula Award, the Locus Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, the British\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book review"","block_context":{"text":"book review","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/drowninggirl.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/drowninggirl.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/drowninggirl.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/drowninggirl.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4626,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/borderlands-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":2075,"position":1},"title":"Borderlands 7","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"May 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm very happy to announce that my story \"Everything After We Kissed\" will be in Borderlands 7, edited by Olivia Monteleone and Tom Monteleone. It's scheduled to come out on October 1st and will be available as a signed, limited-edition hardcover. You can pre-order now at the Borderlands Press site.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Books"","block_context":{"text":"My Books","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/my-books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Borderlands 7 cover","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Borderland7cover.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Borderland7cover.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Borderland7cover.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":729,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/getting-your-work-published\/","url_meta":{"origin":2075,"position":2},"title":"Getting Your Work Published","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"April 29, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay. You've written your story or poem. You think it's good. Your friends say it rocks. Your creative writing instructor gave it an \"A\" and wrote in the margin, \"Excellent work. You should try to get this published.\" Yeah! Get it published! Uh, but you've never sent your work out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "publishing"","block_context":{"text":"publishing","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/publishing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Book","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/04\/book-2909631_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/04\/book-2909631_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/04\/book-2909631_1280.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/04\/book-2909631_1280.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/04\/book-2909631_1280.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1978,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/the-horror-at-red-hook\/","url_meta":{"origin":2075,"position":3},"title":"The Horror at Red Hook","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"June 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cThe Horror at Red Hook\u201d is a short story by\u00a0H.P. Lovecraft\u00a0that first appeared in the January 1927 issue of\u00a0Weird Tales. The\u00a0protagonist\u00a0of the story is Detective Malone, who investigates a series of kidnappings linked to a mysterious recluse named Suydam. The recluse has been involved in shadowy dealings with gangsters and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book review"","block_context":{"text":"book review","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/H._P._Lovecraft_June_1934-e1528320012630.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":716,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/writing-query-letters-for-fiction-or-poetry-markets\/","url_meta":{"origin":2075,"position":4},"title":"Writing query letters for fiction or poetry markets","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"May 17, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Writing a query letter for fiction or poetry is a bit different from writing a query letter for a nonfiction piece. Short Fiction and Poetry In the case of short stories or poetry, you in general won't be writing many query letters; editors may be mildly annoyed at getting a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "writing"","block_context":{"text":"writing","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"letter","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/05\/letter.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/05\/letter.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/05\/letter.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/05\/letter.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/05\/letter.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1493,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/shared-world-anthologies\/","url_meta":{"origin":2075,"position":5},"title":"Shared World Anthologies","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"July 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A shared world anthology (also known as a shared universe anthology) is a type of themed anthology in which the writers create works \u2013 usually stories, but sometime poetry or sequential art \u2013 exploring the same fictional world. If the fictional world is already known in popular culture, the writers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "game"","block_context":{"text":"game","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/game\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/MediaSlider.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/MediaSlider.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/MediaSlider.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/MediaSlider.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/MediaSlider.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2075"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2079,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2075\/revisions\/2079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}