"Wanda Why Aren't You Dead" by Wanda Coleman

(Adrienne and Pooja's commentaries allowed me to develop my ideas about how sound and form portray Wanda's suffering. I've added this in green!)


“Wanda Why Aren’t You Dead” by Wanda Coleman describes the psychological struggle of a black woman and mother that is unhappy and tormented with who she is. She uses diction to create the image of Wanda and the things she does not like of her life, as well as sound and the speaker to portray how Wanda is oppressed by society.

First of all, the speaker is used as a way of showing that Wanda is battling against herself. Each line starts with the name “wanda”, followed by an interrogative adverb such as “why”, “when” and “how”. By asking questions to herself, it seems that the poem is a conversation between two different Wanda’s: an innocent wanda, to whom the questions are addressed, and an oppressive Wanda, that criticizes herself harshly, and wants her to fulfill all the requirements asked by society. There is also no capitalization of either “wanda” or the pronoun “i”. This shows Wanda’s self-hatred and how she thinks of herself as insignificant and useless. Furthermore, there are no question marks in any of the question. This supports the idea that the speaker is Wanda herself, because the speaker already knows the answer to the questions.

Wanda Coleman uses diction to create the image of Wanda. Most of the words imply a negative connotation and are aspects that Wanda wants to change of herself, as well as her socio-economic status. Firstly, the language portrays all the negative things of her personality and appearance. Her name is described as a “whore’s name”, creating a derogatory tone, as well as implying that she does not follow society, by not liking black men. It is because of this that they refer to her as a promiscuous woman. Moreover, Wanda is told to “lose weight” and “move out of this hell hole”. The use of the word “hell hole” emphasizes how Wanda is not content about her life: how she looks or where she lives. Secondly, diction also shows her low socio economic status. The vernacular is very characteristic to a black “ghetto” woman, emphasizing her social status. For example, the last line of the poem “why ain’t you dead”, lacks punctuation, has improper grammar and the use of the word “ain’t” shows Wanda’s lack of education

Finally, Coleman also uses sound and form, in order to show Wanda’s inner battle. The lack of punctuation and the continuous questions make the poem have a very fast rhythm. This creates a climax towards the end where Wanda is just trying to fight to the continuous attack of criticisms, constantly revolving in both the reader's and Wanda's mind. This shows that as a black woman, Wanda has been treated like this her entire life, and probably will still be, since she has become used to this treatment; "she earns no respect and is incessantly abused and slandered". (Adrienne's blog) This is also emphasized by the repetition of “wanda” in every line, because it focuses the the poem on Wanda and her flaws. The poem becomes very repetitive, creating an "annoying tone, as if he is purposely trying to pester her" (Pooja's blog)

Wanda Coleman’s poem “Wanda Why Aren’t You Dead” describes the mental battle of a woman that is oppressed by society and wants to change her appearance and personality in order to be accepted by society. The last line of the poem “why ain’t you dead” finally suggests that probably suicide is one of the options the character is considering. Coleman deals with a problem faced by many women that are constantly oppressed by society and their families, and the problems they suffer because of this.


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