Below is the dramaturg's formalist analysis, looking at the structure and major points of the play's plot and character archs. This analysis also looks at the given circumstances, dialogue, basic conflict, and action cycles.
These thoughts are not absolute, meaning that they are the thoughts of the dramaturg and not necessarily "answers."
Given Circumstances:
Environment: Southern America, in the coastal areas of the South East, Louisiana, secluded neighborhoods, surrounded mostly by rivers, lakes, and ponds. Lower Class/Poor. Spirituality is present, mostly in through who the characters represent, but also slightly within the world itself.
Previous Action(s): Oya was born, Oya's father (disappeared), Oya went to school, Mama Moja grew up.
Dialog:
Repetition
"Oya in the air" (p. 25)
"Sad…" (p. 57)
"Come see…" (p. 57)
"Maybe this…" (p. 76)
"Come down…" (p. 83, always Elegba)
"Oya girl"
"Here" (p. 45)
Speaking of Stage Directions
"Holding her head" (p. 8)
"Mama Moja enters the space" (p. 9)
Speaking in Third Person
"Moja looks at Oya like what I say" (p. 10)
"Oya laughs at her crazy mama" (p. 11)
The only time this changes is on p. 79 when Shun and Nia enter to give her more bad news--Shun is pregnant with Shango's baby.
References to the Moon
Elegba--Feminine? Elegba as a representation of both feminine and masculine energy. Like a waning moon, he grows from an adolescent to young adult.
"Li'l 'Legba begins to walk away like the half moon
In the morning." (p. 15)
"Li'l 'Legba exits like
A three-quarter moon in the morning." (p. 46)
**by the next time we see this phrasing, the reference of Elegba has changed from "Li'l 'Legba" to just "'Legba"
"'Legba sneaks in like the moon." (p. 51)
"'Legba sneaks off like the moon behind a cloud
Gone but still here." (p. 54)
"'Legba fades into the house
like the moon in the shadow of the world." (p. 68)
"Enter 'Legba beaming like a full moon,
Bright in all white." (p. 74)
"Smiling like the light of the night." (p. 75)
"'Legba enters like the moon during the day , there but not
saying anything." (p. 78)
References to the Sky
"That spot in the sky ain't shining eternal" (p. 18)
"Oya girl looks to the sky./Finds no answer there." (p. 29)
"dark cloud in Oya's sky" (p. 67)
References to Air/Breath
"A song in the air" (p. 20)
"Oya in the air" (p. 25)
"She breathes like the wind" (p. 29)
"Oya takes a breath" and "Oya breathes" (p. 30)
"Oya run like the wind" (p. 44)
"Oya's breath comes hard to her." (p. 46)
"You breathe hard./I breathe hard…" (p. 50)
"more love in my hands/Than the world got air to breathe" (p. 68)
Pauses Throughout
"Oya in the air… Oya" (p. 25)
"He full of something. Like light…" (p.41)
Ambiguous Language
"I don't believe her but I do" (p. 23)
Basic Conflict:
--Growth vs Stagnation
--The chance to chase your dreams or being stuck because of familial responsibilities.
--The opportunity to achieve your goals and be free from the stifling expectations set on young women in the community.
VS.
Being forced by responsibilities to stay in a community where you have to find a new dream which you can never achieve despite having all the resources needed.
Basic Action:
Oya is given the chance to attend university on a track scholarship but is burdened by her worry about her mother, deciding to defer university for a year to take care of Mama Moja. After the death of her mother, Oya finds out that she no longer has the track scholarship, relegating her to life in the community she has always known. She changes her dream, deciding to focus on forming a family with a loving husband and children. However, despite several romantic partners, Oya is unable to conceive, leaving her alone.
Cycle of Action:
What is literally happening?
After the death of her mother, Oya brings several people into her life as she tries to achieve her new dream of becoming a wife and mother.
What is the essential action?
Oya wants to break out of the cycle women in her community are stuck in; however, she cannot leave the town, and she cannot even succeed in the common goals of the women in her town.
Tactics
To escape, to find, to live, to love, to become
What is the need?
To find love and comfort in this life.
Tempo:
Overall action is moderate, almost as though we are meandering through these moments, being pulled along.
Mood:
Natural, otherworldly, wet, morose, overflowing yet dissipating
Exposition: We know that Oya is the main character, described by the other characters as beautiful but sad in the eyes. Oya lives with her mother, Mama Moja. Oya runs track. Mama Moja is dealing with pains and aches. Elegba visits Oya and Mama Moja frequently, a young boy at the beginning of the play. He's been having dreams about Oya.
Inciting Incident: Oya decides not to go to university to take care of Mama Moja.
Progressive Complication: Mama Moja dies.
Progressive Complication: Someone else has taken Oya's spot on the track team.
Progressive Complication: Shango leaves for the war. Oya begins seeing Ogun.
Peripeteia/Reversal/Turning Point: Shango returns and Oya begins seeing him while still seeing Ogun. Shango leaves for the war again, and Ogun leaves Oya.
Scene of Suffering/Climax: Shango comes to visit Oya after she finds out that Shun is pregnant with his child. She cuts off her ear--a point of connection between the two--in order to give him a parting gift.
**This is very representative of how she has given pieces of herself away until she is unrecognizable even to herself.
Falling Action:
Oya collapses in front of Shango and Elegba. Shango leaves her there on her porch.
Denouement/Resolution:
Oya and ensemble reminisce about how Oya is talked about in town now--reflecting on her beauty, sadness, and the stillness of her soul.
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