Characters
Who is Twyla?
"What is the narrator?"
Morrison never reveals this key detail about Twyla and Roberta.
"What is race?"
The girls depended on this unreliable source to recollect what happened to Maggie.
"What is memory?"
This is the place where Twyla and Roberta meet as children.
"What is St. Bonny's?"
These two girls meet at St. Bonny’s and form a strong bond in their youth.
"Who are Twyla and Roberta?"
This girl becomes Twyla’s roommate at St. Bonny’s.
"Who is Roberta?"
True or False: Mrs. Morrison attended Howard University and Columbus University.
"What is false?"
Maggie becomes a symbol of how this social category is misunderstood, debated, and projected onto by both women.
"What is race?"
This intimidating group of older girls represents everything Twyla and Roberta fear as children at St. Bonny’s.
"Who are the Gar Girls?"
The phrases "Big Bozo", "Bow legs! Bow legs!" and "lipstick and eyebrow pencil" are all examples of what form of writing?
"What is dialect?"
What is the name of Twyla's mother?
"Who is Mary?"
Mrs. Morrison was the first African American to be awarded a Nobel Prize for __________.
"What is literature?"
The girls laugh at Maggie because they are children desperate to fit in, demonstrating the loss of this early in their lives.
"What is innocence?"
Twyla and Roberta’s quick friendship shows how children form bonds based on this simple factor, rather than race or social status.
"What is shared experience?"
or
"What is the same situation?"
How does Mary embarrass Twyla in church?
"What is behaving inappropriately?"
What is the nickname of the strict supervisor at St. Bonny's?
"Who is Big Bozo?"
The story’s refusal to confirm race forces the reader to confront their own ______.
"What are biases?"
or
"What are assumptions?"
This historical event divides them, showing how society’s conflicts can tear personal relationships apart.
"What is a protest?"
Since Roberta's mother was ________, Roberta lived at St. Bonny's.
"What is sick?"
What were Maggie's legs described as in the story?
"What are parentheses?"
Who is the mute kitchen woman the girls remember?
"Who is Maggie?"
Toni Morrison uses _________ to confuse readers of the girls' races.
"What is dialect?"
or
"What is speech?"
This painful emotion, felt years later about not helping Maggie, shows they now understand the consequences of childhood inaction.
"What is guilt?"
or
"What is regret?"
Twyla and Roberta’s silence when Maggie falls shows how children are often powerless in the face of this kind of behavior.
"What is bullying?"
Readers often assume Twyla and Roberta’s races based on this kind of cultural detail like food, language, or family structure, revealing their own biases.
"What are racial markers?"