Nikki Giovanni is a very strong woman who expressed her emotions through the words she wrote. With every stanza or line that she wrote there was a significant meaning behind it. Giovanni used her words as a window to speak and inspire. This poem “Choices” by Nikki Giovanni was written after her father’s death. Giovanni was very distraught by the sudden death of her father. This was very unexpected, as he passed away on June 8,1982, the day after his 39th birthday. This was the very same year that Giovanni decided to write this poem. She used this poem as a window to reach her readers. The poem deals with decisions, the passage it is double sided. Implying there are two conflicting sides of the story. In the passage it discusses decisions one …show more content…
makes when you think you are entitled to something. These choices you have are between things you do not acknowledge. In Nikki Giovanni’s, “Choices” Giovanni shed light upon the choices we cannot control through her aggressive tone, sense of entitlement, and reality. Before all else the author comes out aggressive and solid expressing that "If I can’t do what I want to do then my job is to not do what I don’t want to do". Additionally as the ballad goes on Giovanni turns out to be exceptionally thankful expressing that "If I can’t have what I want then my job is to want that I’ve got and be satisfied that at least there is something more to want.” In this quote Giovanni is expressing that she is grateful and that you should be grateful for what you have. She wants her readers to see that there are good things in life that outweigh the bad. The sense of entitlement to choices often makes us feels as if we are entitled of things we want and able to shy away from things we don’t want. Choices In today’s society Americans have become accustomed to everything being handed to them, not having to work for what they get not having to earn it.
Throughout life people believe that there are certain things are owed to them but, that is not the case Consistently, you make several decisions. We pick what to wear, what to do when we return home from work or school, and how to react when somebody ridicules us. At times we additionally settle on important choice, for example, what sort of school to go to, what profession to seek after, regardless of whether to get hitched, and whether to have a tyke. At times individuals settle on choices that are considerably greater than these on the grounds that the choices influence hundreds or a large number of individuals choices about war and peace or about changes in the laws. Regardless of the possibility that we ourselves don't settle on such critical choices, we have to see how they are made. More often than not, you settle on these decisions without considering the consequences that one will face. You have figured out how to talk and how to carry on friendlily without speculation by any stretch of the imagination, and your propensities work well for you. In different cases, however, you think about your choices, from what to wear in the morning to how to spend your cash. Now and then individuals settle on decisions without deduction when they truly should think a …show more content…
bit. Nikki Giovanni wants her readers to know that the choices that life gives, you have no control over it. No matter how hard you try to change fate, you can’t. It is impossible. You have no control over the history and fate that have already been made but you do have control over the actions you choose to make in your lifetime. You have no control over your fate. The actual definition of fate the development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power. The fate that one holds is not in their hands to control. Often time, people believe that they are entitled to certain things in life.
They believe that they deserve certain things, but that is not the case. We have no control over some of the things that happen to us. You can’t pick and choose the day we die. You’re can’t decide who you’re parents are. You can’t control if you’re diagnosed with cancer. Those are things that as human being, no will ever have any control over. The only thing that you will have control over is what you choose to do in the time God awards you. Giovanni wants her readers to see that tomorrow is not promised. You need to do everything that you can do within your abilities to the best that you possibly can. She doesn’t want her readers to regret not doing something before their rime runs out. Nikki Giovanni’s father was taken away from her unexpectedly. She was distraught at the swiftness of his death. After she experienced someone being taken away from her she wrote this poem to show that time is not something to play with. No matter the circumstance you are in make the best of it. Tomorrow is not
promised. This poem expressed Giovanni’s true feelings towards reality. The reality of the situation was that she had no control over her father’s death. There was nothing or no way that she could have prevented the events that took place. Although she was very angry with the situation at had she learned that she had other things to be grateful for. She wanted people to know that even though something or someone has passed away you can’t stay stuck in the state of depression forever. You have to step back and look at your life because the reality is, is that life still moves on. So you have to make the best of what you have right now by doing everything to the best you can living your life with no regrets. Sometimes what you expect you should have isn’t always for you.
In this poem “Luxury”, Nikki Giovanni examines the word luxury and by doing this she realizes what it means to her. She realizes having more materialistic things in life isn’t all that we need. We need something that’s going to last forever something that can’t be taken away. So instead of finding contentment in the things we as society find luxurious, she found all the luxury in the world in her soulmate. To Giovanni love is the state of great comfort and extravagant living, meaning it’s more important than fame, money, fast cars and expensive clothes. Love by definition is a strong feeling of deep affection for somebody/something and this is what she felt when she was held that “one evening” (23).
The first poem entitled “Poetry” by Nikki Giovanni was discussing the purpose of poets trying to compose poetry. The author is speaking. She says that the main purpose of all poetry is to show that life is precious. She says that all poetry should sing, be joyful, and inform the reader. This poem flows easily as it is read but does not rhyme like a lot of poetry. There is repetition of phrases like “It never says…” and it also uses good imagery in the form of similes like “…motion graceful as a swan…” (cite poem p.345).
The tone Giovanni applies to talk about where she grows up is very laid back and from the language written shows how comfortable she feels with these people. Giovanni writes “folk in Chicago” to demonstrate how the people in Chicago are chill and a bit country and that they are casual with each other (8). Equally important, Giovanni utilizes the word choice bath in the sentence “when you got your bath” to indicate how they couldn’t waste water to take a shower, but have to fill up the tub with a certain amount to save water (7). Toward the end of the poem Giovanni claims “Black love is Black wealth” to express how, to black people the money, fame, or richness isn’t important, but the people you surround yourself with and in Giovanni’s point of view, considered wealthy (22). In the beginning of Nikki-Rosa, Giovanni states “always a drag if you’re black” to oppose that perhaps she wasn’t so happy all the time and that there are tough times to climb over in life (1/ 2). Giovanni could have begun the poem like that to make the times she is happy to the reader and herself not just a fluke, but a highlight in her life and something that she comes to cherish. All in all Giovanni’s poem
in every choice we make and our outcomes depend on our choices. Not too long ago, our preacher
In Nikki Giovanni’s opinion she believes that women are often over looked by men because they have everything. Throughout history men have been given multiple opportunities to be successful compared to woman that had limited options. Giovanni understands that women’s strength is over shadowed by simple traits of a male. This is exactly why she felt the need to express African American woman worth through this poem. She wanted to give women something they could look forward to.
“From the story Nikki-Rosa reader's can tell that Giovanni had an impoverished childhood but Walter's article goes farther to show the later part of her life” (The Journal of Negro History). During the poem she makes statements like “I really hope no white person ever has to write about me because they never understand Black love is Black wealth and they probably talk about my hard childhood and never understand that all the while I was quite happy” (Henderson 138). With that being said, Nikki was able to face the reality that even though things might not look so good in her life, she will always be happy.
" Do any of us ever choose the life we live?" A question many people may spend hours answering. Truth be told, no we do not. When we all are born, we don't choose who our parents will be, where will we be born, in what class will we live in, how will we look like, and when in time will we be living. All these things are faith and destiny that God has picked for us. The only things that we have control over are choosing where we end up as individuals. Something that confuses me sometimes is even though we never picked the beginning of our lives, we still get discriminated or in other words ranked. One of the stories I recently read was about how a man was discriminated differently in his life as society was evolving around him. The story was called "Khlalah SEL," by an Emirati writer by the name of Abd Al-Hameed Ahmad. In this analytical essay, I will be explaining how this man by the name of "Khlalah" was discriminated and how he deals with it.
The ambiguity which dominates the poem seems to be intentional. The only certainty in the poem is that it deals with a solitary traveler who has come to a fork in the road and must choose which way to go.
The poem “Always Something More Beautiful” by Stephen Dunn is certainly about running a race, but the speaker is also arguing that pursuing something beautiful can help guide us through life. Through the title, we can see that we should constantly look for more beautiful things in life. The poem begins with the speaker describing his experience before a race. He uses words like “best” and “love.” The tone is extremely enthusiastic. In the first line, he talks about coming to the starting place. This can be a metaphor for beginning our lifelong journey. The speaker also implies that we need to approach it with a positive attitude. In the next few lines, the speaker indicates being tested in excellence
“And sorry I could not travel both” (2), the speaker is coming to a decision. In everyone’s life, they must make a decision to follow God or not to follow God. In this poem, the speaker has to make this choice. He tries to look down both roads as far as he can to see the choices that might result from taking either path. “Yet knowing how way leads on to way” (14), he knows that this decision is not temporary. He knows that once he chooses a path, he “doubted if I should ever come back” (15[VR1] ).
Nikki Giovanni is a very expressive poet. Her writing is complex and sometimes hard to understand at first. She uses words to help her readers picture what she is saying. I think she does a great job of helping you get her point. I read several of Nikki Giovanni’s poems. I decided to analyze three of them. I chose ‘Poetry”, “I Am Glass’, and ”Fish Out of Water.” I found these three to be fantastic examples of Giovanni’s use of figurative and specific language, imagery, and vivid world. It seems to me that her poems almost come alive and force you to put yourself inside.
As an individual is conditioned, they are given certain qualities that no matter what they do will never change. One of those qualities is the inability to make decisions or have the knowledge to rule over themselves. The World State, as a simple totalitarian state, enforces this ideology by giving the citizens no responsibility, rather they control every aspect of their life. Alongside the conditioning process, the citizens are being taught that they have no responsibilities, rather the World State makes all their decisions for them. As the Arch Community Songster reads John the Bible he states, “We are not our own any more than we possess is our own.
The two roads presented in this poem represent difficult decisions we are faced with in life. He uses the relationship between the paths and real life decisions throughout the whole poem. This is an example of extended metaphor, which is used to help the readers understand the analogy between the two. The man in the poem said: “long I stood” (3), which lets us know the decision was not made instantly. It was hard for the man to make a final judgment.
This world has turned into a place where people are required to take full responsibility for their actions and words. Often we do this informally, via moral judgment or if not through legal judgment. In other words we become morally responsible, deserving praise, blame, reward or punishment for an act or omission based upon one’s moral obligations, thus contradicting the concept of free will. Main viewpoints on moral responsibility interact with the following three, constructed by human action: determinism, compatibilism and libertarianism. A philosopher once said “Just as we separated the concept ‘free’ from the concept of ‘will’ in order to better understand ‘free will,’ so we need to separate ‘moral’ and responsibility."
We make choices every hour, every minute, and every second of our lives; whether big or small our choices are slowly putting us in the direction we choose or end up. Many of us do not realize what contributes to the choices we make and why it affects others the same way if affects us and because of this many authors and writers have written stories and articles about coming to terms with making a choice and how to better ourselves when it comes to decision-making for the future.