Bonny’s, Twyla notes that “she smiled and waved like she was the little girl looking for her mother-not me.” The reason why Twyla does not live with Mary is because she “ danced all night,” a detail that associates Mary with youth culture and suggests she was unable to mature enough to be a proper parent to her daughter. Twyla calls her mother by her first name, Mary when Mary comes to visit St. Meanwhile, Twyla and Roberta are also forced to behave like adults because their mothers are unable to properly perform the role of parents. This is true of the gar girls, who wear makeup, dance, and intimidate the younger children, but who in retrospect Twyla recognizes were actually “scared runaways… poor little girls.” Bonny’s are forced to grow up quickly, and frequently perceive themselves and each other as more adult than they really are. On the other hand, because of the absence of parents in their lives, the children at St. Even Maggie, who is technically an adult, is presented as a child in her helplessness and her mode of dress (Twyla describes her as “dressing like a kid and never saying anything at all”). In the first half, Twyla and Roberta live in St. The binary of childhood and adulthood is central to the story this is first made obvious by the fact that half of the narrative is set during Twyla and Roberta’s childhood, and the other half when they are adults.
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