Toni Morrison: Essays

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Toni Morrison write a story about two girls. Twyla is the narrator.

c) They meet the last time at the store. Discuss their conversation. What have they learned as grown adults?

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The downtown streets are wide and empty except for some glamorous people coming out of a hotel. They make Twyla feel tired. She decides to stop in at a small diner for a cup of coffee and a few minutes of peace before going home and getting things ready.

She hears her name, and she sees Roberta dresses up elegantly with two other people, looking a little drunk and trying to buy cigarettes from the machine.

Roberta tells the others to wait for her in the car and turns to Twyla. She says that she has to tell Twyla something that she has been wanting to tell her for a long time. Twyla sighs that it’s not important, but Roberta urgently explains that she really did think that Maggie was black—now, though, she isn’t sure. Maggie was brought up in an institution like Roberta’s mother, and Roberta didn’t want to be left to that same fate. Roberta and Twyla didn’t kick Maggie; only the gar girls did. But, she adds, she wanted to, and she wanted them to hurt her. She concludes that she doesn’t want Twyla to have to carry that burden around anymore.

Twyla notices Roberta’s eyes watering. She replies that they were kids, and Roberta knows this. They agree they were sad and lonely.

Twyla says thank you, and Roberta acknowledges it. Twyla adds that her mother never did stop dancing, and Roberta sighs that hers never got well.

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