AADS/ENGL 3328.01
Love is difficult: Rarely does it come in the form similar to a fairy tale where everything just makes sense. Quite often, it takes patience, struggle, and work for love to blossom into the radiant, beautiful energy that overtakes the soul with warmth. The difficulty with love comes not from what to do following the fall,…
Shange incorporates Indigo’s personal reflections, entries, and written moments throughout the story so that the reader can see the world through this young woman’s eyes. Indigo is very in touch with her emotions and she uses magical realism and imagination to translate these feelings into the small snippets of poetry, jotted numbers, and experiences. These…
In Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo, Shange establishes a close connection between the moon and the concepts of both mystical womanhood and Blackness. These moon-related concepts converge in Indigo’s character. The repeated image of “a moon falling from her mouth” helps designate Indigo as a member of a special group of Black women who know “[their]…
Shange uses repetition throughout her narration of Indigo in a way that exudes reflection of the reader. Shange consistently takes the reader on the journey through Indigo’s mind and ends each sequence with “the South in her”. She allows the reader to picture themselves in Indigo’s world, learning from her imagination. When presented with, “the…
In her novel Sassafrass, Cypress, and Indigo, Shange employs lyricism as a persuasive mechanism for showcasing black female artistry. She does so by juxtaposing lyrical descriptions of Indigo’s creative outlets (as well as those of the women around her) with the prosaic consciousness brought on by gender-charged violence. The scene in which Indigo gets her…
In the novel Sassafrass, Cypress, and Indigo, Ntazake Shange uses magic as a means of empowerment that in turn challenges societal expectations in the youngest character, Indigo’s, coming of age. Throughout the course of the book whenever Indigo displays an action or trait that would typically be considered “crazy” or “unusual,” the phrase “the south…