Summary Of Graduation Nite By Ntozak Shange

One profound piece of African American literature is Ntozake Shange’s choreopoem, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf. This revolutionary text presents black women with poems that address the various aspects their life and challenges they face. To aid in the telling the stories of black woman, Ntozak Shange utilizes the feminine gaze. The feminine gaze is the viewing of a scenario from the prospective of a woman. While the masculine gaze often objectifies women, the feminine gaze views women as the complex people that they are. The female perspective is an essential part to the pieces of Shange’s work. One poem in the work that employs this viewpoint is the Lady in Yellow’s “Graduation Nite” poem. The feminine

gaze in this poem gives the woman agency over her body, address the ways that she has been socialized, and prioritizes her over the men in the text.
The use of the feminine gaze in “Graduation Nite” gives the Lady in Yellow agency over her sexuality, body, and actions. When the poem begins, she introduces herself by telling everyone that she is “the only virgin in the crowd” (Shange 21). She later states that she was “doin nasty ol tricks…cuz graduation nite had to be hot,” and she was the lone virgin there (Shange 23). The Lady in Yellow is openly declaring her sexual inexperience in order to avoid assumptions from being projected onto her. Moreover, she indicates that she her goal was to not be a virgin by the time the might was over. A masculine gaze would not have been able to provide information such as this. The male perspective would not have known that the Lady in Yellow was a virgin, or what her intentions are. Instead, it could only speculate. With the feminize gaze, the woman is the one who explains actions. It was the woman who states that she wanted to make it look like she was with an older man, and that she wanted the attention from the men at the party (Shange 23). In this view, the Lady in Yellow regulates this scenario and eliminates any chances of a misunderstanding. This gaze allows her to share honest and detailed information about herself, and to explore how she was being empowered by it. In addition to providing this knowledge, this perspective demonstrates to the audience what some women were taught during this time.
In order to understand the choreopoem, the audience needs to be aware of the various ideas some women were being taught in regards to their interaction with society. The use of the female gaze reveals to the audience how women were affected by what the way they were socialized. “Graduation Nite” introduces three of those ways. The first acknowledgement is the opening line in which the Lady in Yellow states that she was “the only virgin” (Shange 23). However, the Lady in Yellow has been lead to believe that there is something inherently wrong with her being the only virgin that night. This reveals that she has either been shamed for this, or has been taught that at a certain point, women should be sexually experienced. As a result, the Lady in Yellow spends much of her graduation night putting detailed thoughts into attracting a man.
Another problem that the feminine gaze highlights in “Graduation Nite” is the way women view consent and violation. During the poem the Lady in Yellows attends a party with “bobby mills martin Jerome & sammy yates eddie jones & randi”, gets drunk, and “cdnt figure out whose hand was on [her] thigh” (Shange 22). Being under the influence, she was not able to consent, meaning that she was receiving unsolicited touching. However, the Lady in Yellow believed that it was okay because of her relationships with these men (Shange 22). This moment reveals that the she held the beliefs similar to the ones that the woman held in “Latent Rapists’.” In this poem, the women recount what they had been taught to view rapists as “a stranger…someone you never saw” (Shange 31). Although the Lady in Yellow is not raped in this poem, her body was being violated. Yet, because the men she was with were not strangers, this was not viewed as an invasion. Another troubling point that the feminine gaze reveals with regard to unsolicited that the Lady in Yellow did not recognize that the way she was being touched was inappropriate. The Lady in Yellow tells her audience that she would have “started cryin if somebody actually/tried to take advantage of [her]” (Shange 22). However, her body was being taken advantage in this moment. She does not view it as such because this was not the way on which she was socialized to view assault.
Without the female perspective in “Graduation Nite,” most would miss the last reference about the ways women interact with society. Two women who do not participate in the party action are Sheila and Marguerite (Shange 22). While the male gaze would have seen this as the girls attempting to look “almost sexy,” the Lady in Yellow and her female gaze had a different perspective on this (Shange 22). When analyzing the girls, the Lady in Yellow states that Sheila and Marguerite “waz fraid/ to get their hair turning back” from sweating (Shange 22). She recognized that girls were more concerned about their hair, and not with the way men were viewing them. From the male perspective, all of the woman at the party would have had that idea projected onto them. However, the Lady in Yellow’s perspective dismisses that notion.
The essential use of the feminine gaze in “Graduation Nite” is the centering of women.

In this poem, there is not much attention given to the men. When it begins, they are even acknowledge as being “bobby mills martin jerome & sammy yates eddie jones & randi,” one large collective group (Shange 21). Although the Lady in Yellow has a close relationship with these men, the Lady in Yellow does not offer much commentary on them. Even when she mentions winning contests with the guys, she shares one detail about the men and then proceeds to centering herself again (Shange 22). The Lady in Yellow’s relationship with these men does not matter in this poem. In “Graduation Nite” her goal was to celebrate herself and to accomplish the goals that she has set for herself. Including the more information about the men would have distracted the audience from this. However, the Lady in Yellow does allow other women to have a role in her narrative. In the poem she includes the actions of Ulinda Mason, Sheila, and Marguerite (Shange 22). By placing these women in her perspective, the Lady in Yellow shows the differences between each woman. While she is dancing, Sheila and Marguerite are standing against a wall, and Ulinda goes from “stickin her mouth all out” to fighting with one of the guys (Shange 22). Although the men are also participating in the party, she does not give them much attention. By analyzing the behaviors of the women, she is emphasizing that they are not all there for the same reasons. This use of the feminine gaze aids the Lady in Yellow in distinguishing herself to the audience. They are forced to see her for who she is, and not what the other perspectives would have projected onto

her.
The feminine gaze is a significant element in For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf. In order to understand the Lady in Yellow’s character, the female perspective had to be explored in “Graduation Nite.” The authority that she is able to have over her sexuality and actions is greatly explored in this perspective. In addition, the ways women are socialized is discussed in a way the male gaze would have missed. Yet, the feminine gaze is what establishes and separates the Lady in Yellow for other characters within the poem.