Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide

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Many women; such as the women in Ntozake Shange’s play; still feel oppressed by the racist and male-dominated society we live in today. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide gives a voice to the voiceless and articulated the realities of modern life form some black women. Shange presented the black woman in moments of weakness, sorrow, or shame; honestly, and without apologies. Specifically, Shange established that women of color deserve to be heard and her voice never stifled. In doing this, she sets a strong theme for her play that is composed of, Black feminism, the emotions of growing up, breakdown of communication between men and women, and empowerment through sisterhood. It is said that Shange writes the body of the female in …show more content…

The characters of the story spoke of their “rites of passage”. An example of this is when the Lady In Yellow says; “Bobby started lookin at me/yeah/he started looking at me real strange/like I was a woman or somthin/started talkin real soft/in the backseat of that ol Buick/WOW” (Shange 24). This quote explains how she lost her virginity to one of her friends on the night of her graduation. Both the graduation and loss of virginity are significant rites of passage in a young girl’s life, signifying her transition from child to adult. Unlike many of the other sexual encounters throughout the story, this moment is sweet, simple, and a treasured memory. However, as the ladies get older, Shange presents their sexuality as becoming increasingly …show more content…

Most of the men in For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide that the women in the story are involved with are shallow, inconsiderate, and either incapable of communicating or unwilling to communicate except through sex, violence, and verbal abuse. Although, the man is not all to blame for this, the woman allows the man to treat her this way, and whether right, wrong, or indifferent, she does not leave him although she has the opportunity to do so. The issue of communication between the man and woman is that the woman believes this is what she deserves, and the man plays his part by acting indecent and

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