Shange takes liberties with the conventions of fiction writing with her first fulllength novel, sassafrass, cypress, and indigo. Greene is a professor of english, executive director of the center for black literature and director of the national black writers conference at medgar evers college of the city. Indigo is the story of three sisters and their mother from charleston, south carolina. This novel tells the story of three sisters, each named for a different plant. Her works include the obie awardwinning for colored girls who have considered suicidewhen the rainbow is enuf, betsey brown, liliane and sassafrass, cypress. Harlem fave and world poet, ntozake shange 1948 2018. Sassafrass, cypress and indigo by cris cook on prezi. What are some poems everyone liked from the novel sisterhood motherhood motherdaughter bond religion friendship dancing slavery food music love nature magic inner self femminism womanism common technique she used. Sep 28, 2010 ntozake shange 19482018 was a renowned playwright, poet, and novelist.
Her father was an air force surgeon and her mother a psychiatric social worker. Sassafrass, the oldest, is a poet and a weaver like her mother before her. It centers around three sisters and their mother, providing a slice of life account of each of their journeys. Sassafrass, cypress and indigo sarah doyle womens center. Her language is poetical and smooth, and replete with music, nature, and creation. She pursues varied themes in her novel, such as art, family. Sassafrass, cypress and indigo summary supersummary. Nov 26, 20 sassafras, cypress and indigo ntozake shange new york. Deals with the portrayal of mystical women of power in ntozake shanges book, sassafrass, cypress and indigo.
Each woman is shown in her connection to female ancestral spirits. She is best known for her obie awardwinning play, for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf. Sassafrass, cypress, and indigo by ntozake shange booked solid. An ecofeminist, comparative reading of moniru ravanipors. For instance, sassafrass is a weaver and cypress is a dancer and indigo is a violinist characters in her novel, sassafrass, cypress and indigo. Closely related is the theme of creativity as a central part of female lives. A strong underlying theme of ntozake shanges novel is the importance of african american traditions in the lives of contemporary black people during the 1970s. Excerpt from a conversation with ntozake shange bk reader.
Cypress, the dancer,who leaves home to find new ways of moving and easing the contractions of her soul. Complete summary of ntozake shanges sassafrass, cypress, and indigo. The sisters and their single mother live in charleston, south carolina, where they make textiles from start to finished bolt of fabric. Indigos intimate relationship with and embodiment of the. Sassafrass, cypress and indigo is the story of three. The ovary studios corporeality blackness, performance. The book contains letters, recipes, various fonts, italics, calling cards, poems, lyrics, journal entries, a revue, spells, invitations to wassails on white paper, and other graphical flourishes. Cypress, the dancer,who leaves home to find new ways of. The novel begins with where there is a woman there is magic and goes on to describe the womans magic by saying a woman with a moon falling from her mouth, roses between her legs and tiaras of spanish moss. Sassafrass, cypress and indigo by ntozake shange, paperback.
Cultural icons such as dizzie gillepsie, miles davis, and w. Ntozake shange, author info, published books, bio, photo. Resurrection of the daughter 1994, a comingofage story about a wealthy black woman in the american. In sassafrass, cypress and indigo each of the three sisters the books title is eponymous is symbolized by a pictorial image in the shape of a leaf. Ntozake shange is a top 100 bestselling author making our list 11 times ntozake shange, born paulette williams on october 18, 1948 in trenton, nj. Indigo, the youngest, still a child of charlestontoo. Ecofeminist novels by black authors carnegie library of. Sassafrass, cypress, and indigo suggest a unique way of viewing gender difference and language power. Lyrical yet real, it also celebrates female stuffweaving, cooking, birthing babies, related lauerman. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The novel, which took eight years to complete, is a story of three black sisters, whose names give the book its title, and their mother. Unlike her sisters and mother, indigo is very independent and does not conform to the norms of the older, white society. She pursues varied themes in her novel, such as art, family heritage.
I stumbled upon the novel sassafrass, cypress, and indigo, written by. Ntozake shanges neoslaveblues narrative a community of women. Ntozake shange, best known for the 1975 choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf, published her second story of womens lives, sassafrass, cypress and indigo, seven years later. The novel begins with where there is a woman there is magic and goes on to describe the womans magic by saying a woman with a moon falling from her mouth, roses between her legs and tiaras of spanish moss, this woman is a consort of the spirits. If you liked sassafrass, cypress and indigo by ntozake shange, here are some books like this. The novel is unusual in its forma tapestry of narrative, poetry, magic spells, recipes and letters. Resurrection of the daughter 1994, a comingofage story about a wealthy black woman in the american south. Amber hutchison post modern fiction indigo february 23, 2000 people are born with passion.
The irony is that most people spend all their lives searching for that passion without looking inside that soul to the heart of the passion. The ovary studios corporeality blackness, performance, freedom. Set in the us in the 60s and 70s, with a burgeoning feminist movement underway, and. Ntozake shange, american author of plays, poetry, and fiction noted for their feminist themes and racial and sexual anger. Among shanges honors and awards were fellowships from the guggenheim foundation and the lila wallace readers digest fund, and a pushcart prize. Shange attended barnard college and the university of southern california, earning both a ba. Sassafrass, cypress, and indigo incorporates shanges earlier novella sassafras 1976. October 18, 1948 october 27, 2018 was an american playwright and poet.
Cypress leaves home to find new ways of moving in the world. Gods are above humans, they are at the top of the hierarchy. Born paulette williams in 1948, attended barnard college b. Sassafras, cypress and indigo ntozake shange new york. The book deals with several major themes, including gullahgeechee culture, women in the arts, the black arts movement, and. An ecofeminist, comparative reading of moniru ravanipors the. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. Request sassafrass, cypress, and indigo kelly reads, writes and sometimes sews, always with a large mug of tea. The novel sassafras, cypress, and indigo starts off with the youngest of all sisters. The book deals with several major themes, including gullahgeechee culture. Instead, she perceives her familys life as mundane, a constant back and forth 4 and, from a. In claudia tates collection of interviews with living black women writers, black writers at work, she records ntozake shanges.
Discussion of themes and motifs in ntozake shanges sassafrass, cypress, and indigo. Ntozake shange 19482018 was a renowned playwright, poet, and novelist. She is the eleventh stack editor and clerical specialist at clp west end, both of which give her plenty of ideas for stories that find homes in obscure literary magazines. This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of sassafrass, cypress and indigo by ntozake shange. Sassafrass is trying to weave a life out of her work, her man, her memories and dreams. Artistic expression in ntozake shanges sassafrass, cypress. When sassafras was explaining mitchs appearance she states, his presence was that of one of those olmec gods. See more ideas about ntozake shange, coloured girls and african american poets. Sassafrass, cypress and indigo is the story of three colored girls, three sisters and their mama from charleston, south carolina. Sassafrass definition of sassafrass by medical dictionary. As a black feminist, she addressed issues relating to race and black power in much of her work.
Taking place primarily in the 1960s and 1970s, it is the story of three african american sisterssassafrass, cypress, and indigoand their mother, hilda effania, as they each embark on their respective. Indigo, the youngest, appears only in the very beginning the novels most alluring section and very end. Shanges models of resistance are dependent on the women characters highly developed interpersonal vocabulary. Indigo, cypress, and sassafrass grow up with a proud, articulate weaver for a mamaso, though mama would like solid, conventional lives for her girls, the sisters are more artistically, dreamily inclined. Set in charleston, south carolina, the holy city of the lowcountry, the story traces the lives of three sisters who come of age as civil rights. Her magic realism which enables her to create some scenes that cannot be created in reality writing. Ntozake shange was born paulette williams into an upper middleclass african american family. This summary of sassafrass, cypress and indigo includes a complete plot.
1301 181 25 1381 1118 1532 1112 1158 1331 266 694 1150 1401 1171 572 873 1244 860 1197 1215 201 581 806 1419 1498 679 652 1531 310 51 379 305 162 589 381 1437 781 251 308 1149 1457 657