Identity
Identity is one of the prevalent themes of the play and also the title given to its first collection of monologues. Playwright Ntozake Shange sets a metaphor definition for identity right out of the starting gate:
“it’s a psychic sense of place…it’s a way of knowing I’m not a rock or tree”
Mirrors
The section title mirrors is comprised of a single monologue, by MIT physicist Aaron Bernstein. As one might expect from a scientist, he begins with a literal association—a mirror has a flat surface that reflects light—before his mind moves to perhaps the single most widely recognized metaphorical association with mirrors:
“You know you have a pretty young woman and she looks
in a mirror
and she’s a witch”
Hair
The section titled hair features a surprisingly personal monologue from Rev. Al Sharpton about his relationship with James Brown and, in turn, that relationship to his famous hairstyle. From this personal origin the monologue moves to a moment of much broader historical perspective that Sharpton frames through metaphor:
“I mean in the fifties it was a slick
It was acting like White folks.”
Race
The only speaker in the section titled race is activist Angela Davis. And here is also the only place where the monologue specifically takes the action of pointing out a metaphor as metaphor. After first asserting the importance of being anchored within a community, she goes to clarify:
“But I think that,
to use a metaphor, the rope
attached to that anchor should be long enough to allow us
to move
into other communities,
to understand and learn.”
Rhythm
The final monologue in this part of the play is the sole representative in the section titled rhythm and is by rapper Monique “Big Mo” Matthews; it comes with a special bonus for those in the audience confused by some of the slang of the world of hip-hop. For everyone who has ever wondered exactly what it means to say something is “dope” Matthews outlines it clearly enough for anyone to understand:
“it means it is the epitome of experience.”
