49 pages • 1 hour read
George C. WolfeThe Colored Museum
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1987A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Sketch 6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Sketch 6 Summary: “The Hairpiece”
A vanity revolves onto the stage. On the vanity are two wigs resting on hair stands. One is an Afro wig, circa 1968, the other is a long, flowing wig. A woman enters, wrapped in towels. She picks up a framed picture and throws it in the trash. She takes one of the towels off her head and is revealed to be bald.
The wig stand holding the Afro wig opens her eyes and begins speaking. She calls to LaWanda, the other wig stand, who then opens her eyes and begins talking back. The wigs criticize the bald woman’s appearance. LaWanda points out that the Woman’s hair has been “fried, dyed, and de-chemicalized […] to death” (19). The wigs comment that all this was done to please an unworthy man in the Woman’s life. Janine argues that the baldness occurred because the Woman changed her hairstyle every time her man changed his ideology.
LaWanda tells Janine that she overheard that the Woman is on her way out to break up with the man, and the two argue about which of them the Woman will wear to the breakup lunch. After some back and forth between the two wigs, Janine finally addresses the Woman directly. The Woman is confused at first, thinking that she hears someone through the phone. She realizes then that the wig is talking to her and panics. When LaWanda joins in the conversation, the Woman screams for help.
The wigs demand that the Woman decide which wig she will wear to lunch. Janie does a speech about how she is the wig that the Woman should wear, stating she is the healthier wig and the wig of attitude and resistance. LaWanda counterargues that she is the modern wig, believing the Woman needs to “give that n**** a goodbye he will never forget” (22). LaWanda argues she is the wig of emotional flair and dramatics.
Janine calls LaWanda a “barbie doll dipped in chocolate” (22). LaWanda calls Janine “Miss Made-in-Taiwan” (23). The wig stands yell over one another and insult each other until the Woman breaks down, biting off her fake nails, screaming, and finally pulling both wigs off their stands. The lights go down on the three bald heads.
Sketch 6 Analysis
This sketch satirizes the role of hair aesthetics in the conceptualization of the Black female identity. This cultural concept was first introduced in the play as part of Aunt Ethel’s recipe. The fact that the Woman is bald because she has “done fried, dyed and de-chemicalized” her hair is humorous but also highlights the phenomenon of traction alopecia, female hair loss resulting from certain types of hairstyles that attempt to conceal or control the more natural features or “kink” of Black hair (19). The fact that the hair loss is attributed to the changing ideologies of the Woman’s male partner introduces the concept of gender conflict within the sketch’s overall examination of African American identity.
The Afro wig reflects the “Black is Beautiful” ideology associated with the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Black is Beautiful promoted the inherent natural beauty of Black skin and hair. Janine calls herself “exotic” and says she stands for “resistance,” a reference that audience members would no doubt associate with movements like the Black Panther movement, also tied to the civil rights movement and the Black is Beautiful movement. The Afro symbolizes a Black identity that does not try to conform to white ideas of beauty.
The straight hair, on the other hand, returns to the idea of mimicry as exhibited in Miss Pat’s behavior, the idea being that by making one’s hair straight, one mimics white people’s hair and thus puts oneself in the position to assume some of their power. LaWanda calls Janine’s attitude “tired.” She implores that they “get over it and get on with it” (22), almost as if asserting that the civil rights movement didn’t work and that mimicry is now the way to gain power. Her use of the n-word to describe the Woman’s male partner is also significant, establishing her as assuming the derogatory naming practices of the oppressor. LaWanda’s further association with “hysteria […] emotion […] rage” aligns her with more classical Western concepts of woman’s behavior (22), thus turning the focus of the conflict away form an issue of race and into the realm of gender relations.
The trading of insults—“chocolate dipped Barbie” (22), “Miss Made-in-Taiwan” (23)—also symbolizes that the aesthetic of Black identity has become commodified and commercialized. The final ripping off of both wigs, leaving the three of the women bald, symbolizes the Woman’s inability to reconcile herself with her own fluid identity. The contradictions are too much to handle.
