Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Room for Two
When Lefty and Desdemona start living their lives more separately than together, they literally start spending their time in different rooms—Desdemona has the Silk Room, and Lefty has the Zebra Room. And if the Silk Room weaves people together (well, non-white people anyway), then the Zebra room keeps them apart (or away from their families, at least).
These rooms kind of represent Desdemona and Lefty's unspoken beliefs about race. Desdemona believes that people should be brought together, whereas Lefty wants to keep races apart. Do you think Lefty mellows out as he gets older, or is the old saying true: you can lead a zebra to water, but you can't change his stripes? That's how it goes, right?