"Recitatif" was first published in the anthology Confirmation: An Anthology of African American Women, edited by Amiri and Amina Baraka (1983). The story’s five-part structure explores the relationship of Twyla and Roberta, who first meet as 8-year old girls in an orphanage. Twyla and Roberta cannot rely on their mothers for help in understanding the world; their mothers leave them in an orphanage since they are unable to care for them. Instead, as Twyla and Roberta disappear and then reappear over and over again in each other's lives, they must learn to navigate their different experiences of race, class, and gender, transitioning from vulnerable, motherless girls, to becoming mothers themselves, caring for their own families and yet still trying to understand their own identities.

Maggie is a seemingly insignificant character in the story, and yet her character receives a central focus by the end of the story. As a kitchen worker at the orphanage, Maggie is the one to provide sustenance to the girls, unlike the girls’ birthmothers: "Mary's idea of supper was popcorn and a can of Yoo-Hoo" (244). Maggie is also a symbol for the girls' identity, especially the future that could await both Twyla and Roberta, since Maggie also grew up in an institution.