Twyla- Twyla is introduced at the very beginning of the story as the girl with the mom that “danced all night” (Morrison,1), she is also the Narrator and a main character. Twyla mentions her mother at the beginning of the story. Mary has neglected her daughter which is why she ends up in the orphanage. Twyla’s mother has taught her daughter to be prejudice against people of Roberta’s race saying that “they never wash their hair and they smelled funny” (Morrison,10), throughout the story some of these prejudices disappear and come about again when the two women meet again and again over long time spans. In her teen years, Twyla works at a Howard Johnson’s where she re-encounters Roberta for the first time and thinks to herself that, “She made the big girls look like nuns” (Morrison,35). Later in the story, she marries James Benson, a man she describes as “comfortable as a house slipper” (Morrison,50), and has one child with whom she names Joseph. According to Smith Narrative Journal, Later in the story, Twyla realizes she is not happy with her marriage and according to Litcharts, “She is saddened by the “racial strife” that emerges in Newburgh over the issue of busing, although she does not have a strong opinion on the topic.” Although she seems not to have a strong opinion on the topic she ends up joining the opposing protesters, creating signs based on her and Roberta’s relationship to get her attention which Roberta ultimately ignores.

Roberta- Roberta is the other