Recitatif

Roberta's life seems to change dramatically; her clothes symbolize many of these changes. She is the daughter of a very religious mother who becomes sick and must leave Roberta in an orphanage when she is 8 years old. She clearly loves her mother and, when she finds out her mother is coming to visit her in the orphanage, she wears her prized possessions: her socks with the "tops scalloped in pink" (246). She even puts them on when they are still wet in order to wear something nice for her mother's visit. When Twyla next sees Roberta as a teenager, Roberta is wearing tight clothing and lots of makeup, and is clearly no longer under the strict rules of her mother. Her provocative clothing seems to be in rebellion of her mother's rules. As an adult, Roberta has become wealthy. We see her wearing beautiful outfits and having perfectly-coiffed hair.

Of course, everything we learn about Roberta comes filtered through Twyla's perspective. Roberta's constantly-changing appearance, especially as she becomes rich, makes her almost unrecognizable to Twyla. But Twyla is able to recognize her, despite her shifting appearance. Roberta's snub of the teenaged Twyla makes it seem as if she is not as invested in their relationship as Twyla is. But as adults, Roberta has as deep a desire to connect with Twyla and by the end of the story, she clearly is desperate to talk to Twyla about her unresolved feelings about the past. Despite their different races and classes, their early experience as sisters defines them; they are the only ones they can turn to in order to understand their own identities. 

Twyla's mother, Mary, is unable to care for her daughter. It's not clear why. All Twyla will say is that Mary likes to dance all night. For whatever reason, Mary is unable to fulfill her parental obligations. When she comes to visit Twyla, Twyla observes that Mary acts more like the child than the mother. Mary fails to bring any food for Twyla the way Roberta's mother does. She does not act appropriately in church. But nonetheless, it's clear that Twyla deeply loves her mother and would do anything to be reunited with her.

Only at the end of the story does Twyla admit that her strong feelings about Maggie really represent her anxiety about her mother. Mary was never there for her: "Maggie was my dancing mother. Deaf, I thought, and dumb. Nobody inside. Nobody who would hear you if you cried in the night. Nobody who could tell you anything important that you could use" (259).She realizes that Mary was just as vulnerable as Maggie, just as vulnerable as herself. Mary was at the mercy of others. She couldn't care for Twyla because she couldn't care for herself. 

Roberta's mother is a small presence in the story, and seen briefly in Part 1. Ironically, her physical appearance is powerful. She is characterized as a large, stern, unyielding woman who carries the "biggest Bible ever made" (247). She refuses to shake hands with Twyla's mother. It is unclear what she objects to. Mary wears a large cross, in addition to carrying her large bible. She clearly has strong ideas on morality and upbringing. And yet, she cannot be there for her daughter. It seems that Roberta tries to escape her mother's control since, as a teenager, Roberta dresses in a manner that the mother clearly would not approve of.

At the end of the story, we learn that the mother grew up in an institution, just like Maggie did. Thus, like the girls, she also lacked a firm foundation as a child. Perhaps this lack of foundation led her to seek religion in order to find stability in her life. Although the reader doesn't know too much about Roberta's mother, the reader can see that Roberta, like Twyla, fears her mother's fate. She does not want to be helpless and alone. Like Twyla, she will do anything to avoid that fate, even if it means constantly shape-shifting in order to find something that will take her far from her mother's fate.