Connor Merriman

Rhetoric: 101
Mr. Newman
6 November 2014

The psychological effects of abandonment

As people are abandoned by those who play an important role in the psychoanalytic
development in a persons mind, the effects can vary with the person being effected. Toni
Morrison shows this in her story, Rectatif with characters Roberta and Twyla. The two girls
were both abandoned by their mothers at a young age and were then transferred into an
orphanage, where they met and grew up together as sisters. Throughout the time they spent
together, Roberta and Twyla had grown together in a way as if they were real siblings. Later on
in life, the two grew up and left the foster home to start their lives on their own. Despite the
amount of bonding they spent together in the orphanage, when they had met numerous times at
random later on in life, all grown up, the two girls found they had grown very much apart. Each
time the girls came together, Roberta seemed to be a new person with new objectives in her
life. Because of the abandonment from both the mothers of Roberta and Twyla at such a young
age, the effect this had on the psychological state each girl developed much differently over
time.
In the story Rectatif, the author correctly shows how the desertion of a mother figure in
child's life can effect everyone differently. Maybe not right away, but later down the line in life,
the effects can start to show. Toni Morrison shows the beginning effects on both Roberta and
Twyla when they both are mean to Maggie. Talking behind her back and calling her names like
Dummy (2). Not only do they each call her names and yell at her because they know she cant
hear them, they also have witnessed the older girls in the orphanage beat Maggie up and rip her
clothes, and didn't say anything to anyone about it. Lois Tyson describes it as Displacement,

which is the psychoanalytic name for transferring our anger with one person onto another
person (usually one who wont fight back or cant hurt us as badly as the person with whom we
are really angry). (28) As the girls grow closer together, they become more like sister to each
other.
With time, the girls grow up and eventually both leave the orphanage, thus growing
apart. Throughout the story, Roberta and Twyla both meet together at random places without
having seen one another in years. In each time they meet, Roberta appears to have a different
mental state of mind from the previous times they've met. The first time they had met after
separating from the orphanage, Roberta was going to a Jimi Hendrix concert with a group of
boys. When Twyla had seen her there and had tried talking to her, Roberta had coughed on
her cigarette and Twyla was dismissed without anyone saying goodbye. Not only has
Roberta clearly changed since the last time they'd made contact, with the words of Hendrix.
Jimi Hendrix, asshole. she acted like Twyla was never an important figure to her. Roberta took
the anger she had felt towards her mother and directed it at Twyla, who had no controlment
over Robertas mother leaving. Tyson says that 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 we repress. Roberta shows signs of the neglect her mother
expressed to her growing up without a mother in an orphanage.
Later, as more years had passed, Roberta and Twyla had met again in a checkout line
at a grocery store. This time, Roberta had told Twyla that she had married a widowed man and
has no clue what he does for a living, telling Twyla that he does Computers and stuff. What do I
know? Twyla can see that Roberta had married into money when she saw the dark blue
limousine. From the last time the two had met, Twyla describes it as Once, twelve years ago,
we passed like strangers. But Twyla describes this time they met as we are behaving like
sisters separated for much too long. Later down the line, Twyla then runs into Roberta while
she is picketing for her kids to stay with her. After seeing Roberta this way, Twyla says to her I

wonder what made me think you were different. After meeting multiple times since both girls
left the orphanage, the readers can infer that Roberta does not have her priorities straight and is
not in the best psychoanalytic state of mind as Twyla is.
Although both girls, Roberta and Twyla grew up together in the same family situation, no
primary caretaker, a mother, the girls both find they're ways to connect with one another in ways
that only sisters would seem to. As both girls had developed psychologically differently due to
being raised in an orphanage all their life, Roberta develops in such a way as to not know where
she is really headed in life, while Twyla seems to never fully develop as an adult. Not only does
Morrison show how the loss of a mother had affected girls each psychologically differently, they
find that each time they re-unite after the foster home, they realize they are both more different
than they had thought.