Recitatif is told from the perspective of Twyla in the 1960s, during a period of her childhood when her mother was not able to properly take care of her. She spent a portion at an orphanage where she met Roberta, a female of a different race. They became friends during their time at St. Bonny's, although it was obvious to them both that they were different. In the short story, Morrison illustrates the theme of race and prejudice by utilizing racial ambiguity through the interactions between two racially unidentified, but characteristically similar girls to highlight the racial barrier and tensions prevalent at that time.
First encounter
Twyla and Roberta first meet within the confines of an orphanage for children, St. Bonny's (named after St. Bonaventure), because each has been taken away from her mother. Roberta's mother is ill and Twyla's mother "just likes to dance all night." We learn immediately that the girls look different from one another as one is black, one is white, although we are not told which is which. Despite their initially hostile feelings, they are drawn together because of their similar circumstances.
The two girls turn out to be "more alike than unalike" as they were both "dumped" at the orphanage. They become allies against the "big girls on the second floor", whom they call "gar-girls" (a name they get from mishearing the word "gargoyle"), as well as against the home's "real orphans", the children whose parents have died. They share a fascination with Maggie, the old, sandy-colored woman "with legs like parentheses" who works in the home's kitchen and is unable to speak.
Twyla and Roberta are reminded of their differences on the Sunday that each of their mothers comes to visit and attend church with them. Twyla's mother, Mary, is dressed inappropriately, while Roberta's mother is wearing an enormous cross on her chest. Mary offers her hand, but Roberta's mother refuses to shake Mary's hand and Mary begins cursing. Twyla experiences humiliation as her mother's inappropriate behavior shames her, and she feels slighted by Roberta's mother's refusal.
After four months together, Roberta leaves the orphanage.
Second encounter
Twyla and Roberta meet again eight years later during the late 1960s, when Twyla is "working behind the counter at the Howard Johnson's on the Thruway" and Roberta is sitting in a booth with "two guys smothered in head and facial hair." Roberta and her friends are on their way to the west coast to keep an appointment with Jimi Hendrix. This encounter is brief but long enough for the two to show resentment towards each other. Roberta seems dismissive of Twyla and Twyla feels slighted for being told off by Roberta.
Third encounter
The third time Twyla and Roberta meet is 12 years after the second encounter. They are both married and meet while shopping at the Food Emporium, a new gourmet grocery store. Twyla describes the encounter as a complete opposite of their last. They get along well and share memories of the past. Roberta is rich and Twyla is lower middle class. Twyla is married to a firefighter and they have a son and Roberta is married to an IBM executive, a widower with four children who has a blue limousine and two servants. Twyla learns that Roberta returned to the orphanage two more times and then she ran away. She also finds out that she might have some suppressed memories about what really happened at the orphanage. She finds it hard to reconcile that her recollections may have been different from what actually transpired in reality.
Fourth encounter
The next time the two women meet, "racial strife" threatens Twyla's town of Newburgh, NY, in the form of busing. As she drives by the school, Twyla sees Roberta there, picketing the forced integration. Twyla is briefly threatened by the other protesters, but Roberta doesn't come to her aid. Roberta's parting remark unsettles Twyla as she states: "Maybe I am different now, Twyla. But you're not. You're the same little state kid who kicked a poor old black lady when she was down on the ground. You kicked a black lady and you have the nerve to call me a bigot."
Twyla replies: "Maggie wasn't black." Either she does not remember that she was black, or she had never classified her sandy skin as black. Twyla decides to join the counter-picketing across the street from Roberta, where she spends a few days hoisting signs that respond directly to Roberta's sign. Twyla realizes that her signs did not make any sense to an objective observer but she used them to rebut Roberta's take on the protest.
Fifth encounter
Twyla and Roberta meet again, this time in a diner on Christmas Eve, years later, in the early 1980s. Roberta wants to discuss what she last said about Maggie. The conversation is sympathetic but ends on an unresolved note. They both end up admitting how neither of their mothers had ever recovered from their respective illnesses.
