Twyla is the narrator of the story, and the reader follows her transformations as she grows from a child to an adult. As an 8-year-old who was taken from her bed early one morning and placed in an orphanage, we see her predicament. It's not exactly clear why Twyla's mother can't care for her. The only reason given is that the mother “just likes to dance all night" (244).

Twyla rejects Roberta at first because of her racial prejudices, which she has learned from her mother, but she quickly discards these. She becomes friends with Roberta, at first because they are forced to band together against the older girls, who bully them. But soon it's clear that she depends on her sisterly bond with Roberta, which allows her to feel safe and wanted. Roberta will not abandon her when the bullies attack her. Roberta fills the void that her mother created when she left.

Twyla is disillusioned when she runs into Roberta years later as teenagers. Their close bond no longer seems to exist. Roberta is no longer the trustworthy sister she remembers from her childhood. As an adult, Roberta blames the racial discord of the era for her actions, which reified their Other-ized identities.