Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif” is a prime example for the use of the theory reader-response because as this theory focuses on how the reader reacts and finds meaning out of the text this story forces the reader to identify ethnicities. Readers can only come to a conclusion on the characters’ races by identifying with their attributes. I learned that this theory proposes that a text has no defined meaning until the reader experiences (reads) it which is why because each of us have different experiences and ideologies we each have a different interpretation of a text regardless of what it states. In my essay I proposed that both the main characters were black where one of them passed as white, I would have preferred to go more in depth at why “passing” is a big deal in defining race and why the character who has been assumed as white has more a connection to black culture than the assumed black character.
You should have one to correspond with each page in the theory section of your portfolio.