Sassafras, Cypress, and Indigo is a novel in a remarkably African-American-inspired style, written in 1982, and taking place in the city of Charleston, South Carolina by author female African-American playwright, Ntozake Shange. The main characters are the three Black sisters, whose names are given in the title, and their mother, Hilda Effania. They have a career in spinning, weaving, and dying cloths. The text narration and the dialogue by the book's characters are overwhelmingly southern-style, and many times does it even say, "The South in her." The idea of Blackness is a major thematic idea woven into this book, much like our other readings.
Some parts of the book do get remarkably rather intimate, with the girl talking about and elaborating on her inner feelings, sometimes in the form of sub-poetry, recipes, or rituals, and sometimes also encouraging the reader to participate as well. These ornate subsections of the book are deeply personal, and lead the reader to be quite in touch with the idea of femininity. It is actually an easily overlooked literary takeoff point when the main protagonist, Indigo, first begins her journey towards womanhood upon her first undergoing of her menstruation. She goes to the store to buy feminine hygiene products; when the store owner, Mr. Lucas, sees that it is not Indigo's mother that Indigo is getting the product for, but for herself, something gets into Mr. Lucas and he gets compelled to feel Indigo inappropriately. Of course, Indigo did not like him for that. Anyway, regardless, Indigo is given a violin to play. When she plays violin, she is said to make illustrious melodies of sounds, even speech, in her music, which often comes off in a girlish way. As we can see, womanhood and femininity contribute greatly to the theme and mood of this book, particularly more so in this reading than the readings from before.
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