Identity

The opening section of Fires in the Mirror is called "Identity." In its first scene "The Desert," Ntozake Shange discusses identity in terms of feeling a part of, yet separate from, one's surroundings. In the next scene, an anonymous Lubavitcher woman tells the story of a black child coming into her house on Shabbas, the Jewish holy day, to switch off their radio. "101 Dalmations" is George C. Wolfe's perspective on his racial identity, in which he argues that blackness exists independently of whiteness.

Mirrors, Hair, Race, and Rhythm

The second section, "Mirrors," contains only one scene, in which Aaron M. Bernstein discusses how mirrors are associated with distortion both in literature and in science. Physicists make telescopes with mirrors as large as possible in order to minimize the "circle of confusion."

The next section, "Hair," begins with a scene in which an anonymous black girl talks about...