The story of Twyla and Roberta is simply profound. As recent events within our home town shows, race is still, unfortunately, a large issue in our society. The powerful nature of Morrison’s short story derives from the fact that she does not entail the race of either girl, yet race is subtly mentioned throughout the story. From the introductions of Twyla, I pictured her as a caucasian in my head. As Roberta talks to Twyla she says, “Maybe I’m different now, Twyla. But you’re not. You’re the same little state kid who kicked the 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”(Morrison3552). I felt Roberta’s condescending tone as well as the emphasis of Maggie being a “black lady” made my perception of Twyla more concrete. It was almost as if Roberta was saying Twyla was twice as guilty for kicking a black lady because she is white. It felt as though a crime against another race was doubly as bad. I believe that Roberta was African American. Several times within the short story, Roberta mentions “blacks and whites,” but the word black is always put before the word white in her dialect. Often times, we put self first in our own dialect out of natural habit. When talking to Twyla, Roberta says, “you know how it was in those days: black-white”(Morrison3550). Roberta’s repetition of the the sequence in which she stated “black and white” made me believe she was African American.
I find that class issues are equally as divisive as racial issues. Unfortunately, there is still a separation amongst differing people of our country and the world. There are many stereotypes that follow the many races as well. Racism and as well as the convinced superiority of oneself will not dissipate until we teach our children tolerance and understanding. We need to become a people first society. Bring forth humanity and we will have peace.
