'Recitatif': The Impact Of Racial Stereotypes

“Black Men and Public Space” is a short story about racism. This story is interesting because it is told by the point of view of a black male and his life experiences. ‘Black Men in Public Space” shows how racisms is a never ending drain on society. Racism is defined by Merriam-Webster as, “a belief that race is the primary of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race”. There are always two sides to every story, in this case, a black boy and white people. “Black Men and Public Space” explores how black people cope with racism and how they are so easily judged no matter what they are doing or wearing.

Toni Morrison is a famous American author who used to write about racial segregation in the United States. In this perspective, she wrote "Recitatif". In this short story, she talked about the particular story of Twyla and Roberta, two girls from different racial origins. She has shown that their friendship faced many rebounds depending on their age and the place they were. The goal of this essay is to analyze their friendship during each period of their lives. The first part will discuss their relationship when they first met at the orphanage. The second part will be about their meeting at the Howard Johnson 's restaurant. The third one will look at their meeting at the new shopping mall. Then, on the picket lines and the last time they met in a coffee shop during the Christmas period.

It is apparent from reading both essays that the authors' purposes for writing their pieces are to inform readers of deeply rooted problems in society and the consequences of those problems on the people they affect. Staples explains in “Black Men in Public Space” how the unjust perception of black men as threats has not only pervaded society but also has caused an irrational fear of them. Staples writes to show

Introduction: Examine different kinds of advertisements and the problem at hand with how they perpetuate stereotypes, such as; gender, race, and religion.

In his essay entitled Black Men and Public Space (1987), Brent Staples talks about how people will have a common misconception on the black community by thinking that they are all mugger ,rapist or thugs.Staples supports his claim by telling the reader events/ stories that occured to him and talks about how people will assume that he is a danger to society when in reality he isnt. The authors purpose is to inform the reader that his experiences of being stereotyped is to show the reader his point of view when it comes to these types of situations.Staples writes in a formal tone for an intelligent or free minded person.

Friendship can be a key element or theme to a work of literature. Friendships can be expressed in different ways throughout their story. Most stories express friendships as a high and low in one’s life. A friendship can be strained or broken because of outside forces, such as political views that are occurring in the story’s plot. “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison shows that one’s race can put a strain on one’s friendship.

In his essay “Black Men and Public Spaces,” Brent Staples explains that people often find him intimidating because he is tall and black. Staples shares his account of a number of personal encounters, arguing that in each situation, he was misinterpreted as being dangerous because of his daunting physical appearance. Staples asserts that as a result of this misinterpretation, he was continually mistreated.

The story “Recitatif” is written by Toni Morrison. The definition of recitatif means among other things or to recite something. In this story, the narrator, Twyla, recites her friendship with Roberta. Roberta and Twyla switch places between being the protagonist and antagonist. The complex characterization structure that “Recitatif” follows makes this story a captivating read.

Brent Staples in “Black Men and Public Spaces,” illustrates the inescapable prejudices and stereotyping that African-American men face in America. He does this by relating to his audience through his personal experiences with stereotyping, and sharing his malcontent on how these events have made him alter his way of living. From “victimizing” woman, watching people lock themselves away, and having to whistle classical music to calm the nerves of people around him; Staples builds a picture to help people better sympathize and understand his frustration.

One of the biggest things the human race has created is society. How humans live, how they interact, what customs they follow, all of it becomes a part of society. But many negatives have arisen from society as well such as: hate crimes, racism, discrimination, and much more have all taken root in society. The roots run so deep that most modern day citizens are not even aware of their own preferences. One of the worse roots being stereotypes. Stereotypes have the power to label someone and rob them of all their hard work or strike fear into others. One such stereotype is that of black men being more dangerous;yet, one black writer voices his opinion on such a stereotype. In the essay “Just Walk On By” by Brent Staples, Staples describes his experience of being a large black man and how it affects the people around him. From people locking their doors to pedestrians crossing the street to avoid a confrontation, people seem to be afraid of Staples just from a glance. Yet Staples does nothing to cause this fear, rather his stereotype is to blame. The message Staples wants to convey in his essay is that almost all people have to carry the burden of the stereotype they have, and he pushes this message through his use of ethos and pathos.

In the article “Black men in Public Space,” the author Brent Staples narrates how he has been mistaken for a criminal several times bruise he was African American. In this story, he recalls his first victim a young white-woman he scare on a deserted street in Hyde Park. The author argues that in other occasion he would see people black, white, female, or even male hammering down the doors of their cars since they thought he was a mugger. In their defense, Staples asserts that he could not blame them since young black male had occasionally been involved in violence. Staples continues to give more examples of extreme situations in which he found himself in trouble for being mistaken

Though Brent Staples writes “Black Men in Public Space” in essay form, and Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif” is a short story, both authors explore similar ideas about race, the power of racial stereotypes, and the harmful effect of them. Staples use of irony, and Morrison’s symbolic use of metaphor shows that every situation has multiple perspectives and to not look outside of one individual experience can often induce one to accept stereotypes as full truths. As Staples discusses the stereotypes attached to black males, he writes about “the alienation that comes of being ever the suspect”(2). The word suspect literally means a person thought to be guilty of a crime or offense, but here it is used in an ironic perspective. Staples really wasn’t

The strong insistence by these two writer that media just look on and examine people’s looks without considering their dignities, helps readers visualize how similarly Staples and Cofer view society. For both authors, a myth of the media stating that stereotypes are developing and persisting. In “Black Men and Public Space”, Ben Staples describes how he looks like when he is enough to frighten a young white women on the street late at night. He is a man with “six feet two inches height, and a beard and billowing hair”. Black men wearing a bulky jacket, to the public, are all fatal and threatening. Therefore, people avoid walking on the same path with him as if he is a mugger who occasionally appears in the public without covering his face. Receiving such reactions from the public,

In his article, “Black Men and Public Space,” Brent Staples writes about his encounters with people during his nighttime walks in and around the city streets of Chicago and New York. He argues that, as a result of crimes committed by criminals of African American descent, people tend to quickly avoid him because they assume that he will likely mug them because of the color of his skin. Nevertheless, on the subject as to whether this article is an appropriate and good example of the reaction of others, it is quite obvious that this is a good example of the reaction of others, given how Brent Staples spent much of his time working in the city as a journalist, and that crime rates are high in inner city areas.

More often than not, discriminating others by appearance leads to stereotyping, creating a fallacy that people genuinely begin to believe. These stereotypes create barriers that prevent us from truly understanding one another as people. Brent Staple’s essay, “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space,” allows us to ascertain the deleterious effects of stereotyping in today’s society and the kind of impact it has on various types of people.