DISCUSSION 4

One of the examples I chose for my readings was, “ For Coloured girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is Enuf” by poet Ntozake Shanges. Shanges writes the excerpt in the first person. I enjoy writing stories in the first person. When writing in the first person everything is told intimately.  The expert is about cruelty in a racist and sexist society. It is obvious from the name of the title the poet uses race to form an important part of the character’s identity. In the excerpt, she describes the lady that enters the stage as the “lady in Brown” and their racial identity and gender and only identified by their color have an effect, the perspective through which the readers experience all of the different narratives. Shanges uses common abbreviations and occasional derivations from traditional English as well as jargon and metaphors. This helps to reveal who the social group is. The use of language helps the protagonist express their feelings or explain their way of thinking. Shanges uses language that is very distinctive which makes the character’s voice very powerful.  This excerpt has many similarities to the novel that I will be working on. The novel I will work on is in the first person and the theme is about discrimination and the injustices of human beings. I am happy I got a chance to read this excerpt, it was very powerful and gave me some ideas that I will most likely use for my novel.