Nobody Inside: Toni Morrison's "Recitatif": An Analysis on Whole/Incomplete Bodies, "The Maggie Thing"and Sick and Dancing Mothers

<p>This project examines Toni Morrison’s short story “Recitatif.” The aim of this thesis is to analyze the ways in which the characters of Twyla and Roberta remain fixated on the question of Maggie, a disabled character, and their mothers. Drawing on the work of disability studies specialist Lennard J. Davis, this thesis explores how the binary “normal/abnormal” functions in the story and shapes Twyla’s and Roberta’s understandings of their pasts and identities. The White/Black binary also shapes Twyla’s and Roberta’s experiences—and understanding of Maggie. At a time when the category of “White” stood as a default universal or norm, Maggie’s possible Blackness increases her perceived vulnerability and raises the stakes of the question posed in the narrative, “What the hell happened to Maggie”?</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year dc:date.available

2024

Author dc:creator

• Velasquez, Emily

Contributors dc:contributor

• Joanna Levin
• Justine Van Meter
• Rei Magosaki

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/english_theses/72

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.chapman.edu:english_theses-1076