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Natalie Mander
Mr. Newman
English 101: Rhetoric
13 November 2014

The effects of unconsciousness

There are many ways to interpret a story. The reader can analyze the effect that
race, gender, or class has on the characters, or they can analyze the effect of a characters
actions based on preceding events, such as their childhood. This type of analysis is called
psychoanalytic theory. Author Lois Tyson explains this criticism in vivid detail in
Critical Theory Today, noting that psychoanalytic theory is based on the human mind. A
psychoanalytic reading of Toni Morrisons Recitatif demonstrates the effects of
unconsciousness throughout protagonist Twylas life, exemplifying how childhood
experiences affect ones well being in adulthood.
Tyson defines psychoanalysis as the study of human behavior. She breaks this
down into sub-categories, such as the importance of dreams, the sexuality of the
characters, and the meaning of death in a story. One of these categories, the origins of
unconsciousness, suggests we unconsciously behave in ways that will allow us to play
out, without admitting it to ourselves, our conflicted feelings about the painful
experiences and emotions that we repress (Tyson 15). Noting the importance of
childhood experience, traumatic events in the beginning of a childs life affects the way
in which that child lives in adulthood. Tyson reflects on this concept, and says, The
birth of the unconscious lies in the way we perceive our place in the family and how we

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react to this self-definition (16). This pattern of unconsciousness is seen in Recitatif,
when Twyla begins to relate specific events in her adulthood, back to her childhood in the
orphanage. During their time at St. Bonnys, Twyla and Roberta encounter many people.
Mrs. Itkin, nicknamed Big Bozo by the girls, is the caretaker of the orphanage. She
introduces Twyla to Roberta, and makes sure that they respect each other at first. She
says, Turn around. Dont be rude. Now Twyla. Roberta. When you hear a loudbuzzer,
thats the call for dinner. Come down to the first floor. Any fights and no movie
(Morrison 1). The Big Bozo helps Twyla and Roberta rely on one another for comfort in
the absence of their mothers; the two often play in the orchard and watch the big girls on
the second floor. After years of separation and far and few encounters with one another,
Twyla and Roberta cross paths for a final time in the story, when Roberta is picketing
with a group of women. From the street, Twyla converses with Roberta, saying that the
women picketing are swarming all over the place like they own it. And now they think
they can decide where my child goes to school. Look at them Roberta. Theyre Bozos
(Morrison 10). Twylas reference back to Bozo is how she plays out her repressed
emotions. Just as the Big Bozo ran St. Bonnys, Twyla views the womens proactive,
selfish attitudes in the same way. This shows Twylas unconscious efforts to repress her
childhood emotions in her adulthood.
Besides the effects of unconsciousness, another point of psychoanalytic theory is the
effect of relationships with characters. Unhealthy relationships, such as abusive parents
or siblings receiving unfair advantages harbor negative effects on the child inflicted. This
in turn carries unconsciously into the childs adulthood. Those affected by negative
relationships like this tend to unconsciously seek new relationships in hopes of fixing the

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broken ones of their childhood. Tyson writes about this concept of relationships. She
explains that people often seek out relationships in adulthood in hopes of reversing the
outcome of the relationships that negatively affected them in their childhood. For
example, Tyson proposes the hypothetical situation of a girl fighting with her mother for
her fathers love and attention as a child. In adulthood, the girl will seek out relationships
with men who are already with another woman, causing her to once again fight for the
males attention, hoping this time she will win (Morrison 17). This concept is shown
Recitatif when Twyla marries James. Twyla grew up in an orphanage, dumped by
her mother, who infrequently comes to visit her. The strained relationship and
abandonment causes Twyla to seek out a loving, healthy family in adulthood, something
that she never had growing up. Twyla says, James is as comfortable as a house slipper.
He liked my cooking and I liked his loud family Half of the population of Newburgh is
on welfare now, but to my husbands family it was still some upstate paradise of a time
long past (Morrison 5). Twyla transpires from a young orphan into a committed mother
and wife to a family that fills the emptiness of her childhood. By marrying into a family,
she represses her memories of her mothers abandonment. Twyla hopes to fix her
mothers mistake of not providing a financially stable home for her child by giving her
son James the life she never had.
There are certain events that affect ones psychological health. Abandonment,
depression, substance abuse, and other factors during a childs adolescence carry
throughout their lives, causing repressed emotions that are shown unconsciously
throughout adulthood. For Twyla, her mothers abandonment and lack of stability led her
to marry into a loving family. She also plays out her negative emotions of the Big Bozo

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when seeing Roberta protest with a group of women. Her unconscious efforts to reverse
her childhood demonstrate the importance of psychoanalysis; the study of human
behavior.