Sassafrass, Cypress, and Indigo

Shange and this writer, is measured in the impact it made on Black women’s lives. I am still in the mindset of dissecting For colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf . I think looking at that text in tandem with Sassafrass, Cypress, and Indigo is a celebration of both cultural and gender identity in Shange’s work. It is intended by Shange as a handbook for Black girls in order to understand their own lives and Sassafrass, Cypress, and Indigo seems to be the possibilities that exists through the same healing she talks about in “For colored girls…”.

Shange uses the analogy of a “layin on of hands,” to suggest healing through the support of other women. It is clear within the poem as Sbange writes, ‘hot a man,” and “not my mama,” that she is asking women to pull themselves up fom the ground. The power to continue and hd one’s self must come fom inside a Black woman, and not fom society. Society does not offer a woman control, but rather a feeling of powerlessness. One of the last phrases written in the play is an affirmation for Black women and it gives them power, “I found god in mysew & I loved her/ I loved her fiercely.” The very last line of the play restates Shange intentions, “& this is for colored girls who have considered suicide but are movin to the ends of their own rainbows”. The text sends the message to love and heal yourself because nobody else can do it for you. In the end, the friendships are renewed, as these women do not need this man, but rather each other. This celebrates the Black woman’s ability to support each other in the light of personal tragedy. Therefore, Shange’s perspective views women’s lives and bodies as a source of power and vision; she creates a memorable mystical woman of power in the youthful Indigo in Sassafrass, Cypress, and Indigo. Indigo’s experiences argue against the concept of menstruation as “the curse” and present it as a part of the legacy and beauty of womanhood.