Keeping Tradition In Nikki Giovanni's Poem 'Legacies'
667 Words3 Pages
Keeping Tradition Alive
It is not unusual for many people to keep their guard up and to act slightly strange to avoid the topic of death. Death isn't a topic that is brought up often especially when one is not ready for another to pass. People, families mostly, tend to put up a front keeping themselves from truly expressing their emotions. There is a significant difficulty between expressing how we feel, and being able to stand tall and strong for those around us especially for the one passing. In Nikki Giovanni’s poem, “Legacies”, she shows how death can be a “touchy” subject. The poem is about a little girl that can't say what she really feels. Her grandmother wants her granddaughter to be independent, but the granddaughter refuses to be.…show more content… This type of struggle often times occur when tradition is being passed down. Whether one accepts it sooner or later, tradition is always passed down because death is in the future. The grandmother tries to get the granddaughter to learn how to make rolls, which I assume has been a tradition in their family for a long time. The grandmother however avoids mentioning the obvious reason why she is trying to get her granddaughter to learn how to make the rolls. The granddaughter instantly refuses, “i dont want to know how to make no rolls”, because she knows exactly what her grandmother's intentions are. Instead of reaching out to her granddaughter the grandmother brushes it off and says, “Lord these children”. Younger children have a fear of being alone and having no one to take care of them. A little part of her may want to learn how to make the rolls but the thought of not needing her grandmother outweighs her desire to master the art of making