Crutches

Crutches
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Giovanni uses universal gender roles, descriptive words and problems to describe stereotypes. Since the title of the poem is Crutches, Giovanni suggest that the poem would mean supporting someone or that something is saving the targeted group of people of person. The tone of the poem, Crutches, is judgmental to express her critical opinion and sometimes shifts to condescension to express her feeling of superiority. As the reader, we would guess that Giovanni is the speaker, based on Giovanni's feminist perspective. The pattern of the poem is ironically perfect and organized stanzas. Giovanni still expresses her poems in free-verse format. Giovanni opens the poem with, "it's not the crutches we decry, it's the need to move forward, though we haven't the strength". Giovanni suggests that as a person or a group of people,  it is the need to advance and develop, but we lack strength and perseverance. Giovanni then shifts the tone of the poem as judgmental when she says, "women aren't suppose to be strong so they develop social smiles and secret drinking problems and female lovers whom they never touch except in dreams." Giovanni suggests that women are supposes to be gentle and not strong. This also suggests that women smile to hide their emotion. In society, the gender role of a woman is to be gentle and to basically be a perfect wife. To the reader, that stanza expresses the group of people are hurting themselves by trying to be accepted in the society by social stereotypes. Giovanni makes another stereotype about woman when she says, "and female lovers whom they never touch except in dreams". This expresses that women drink to hide their troubles and to tell themselves that they are inferior and less strong than men. Giovanni makes a judgmental remark when shifting the focus on another group of people, which are men. She says, "men are suppose to be strong, so they have heart attacks and develop other women who don't know their weaknesses and hide their fears behind male lovers." Giovanni suggest that men have heart attacks. Heart attacks are known to be a disease of the athletes or people who have a lot of stress like work, which is suggesting that men are over-achievers. This is because men are seen in society as strong and not weak. This also suggests that men might need comfort and support to lessen their heart form being strained. Giovanni ends with the poem to declare that each group of people should not want to conform in society.