CC: http://poefrika.blogspot.com/2007/03/woman-by-nikki-giovanni.html
Giovanni uses universal gender roles, the motif of "plants" and the motif of "want" to capture the female perspective of trying to achieve independence and liberation. When one thinks of the title of the poem, Woman, one thinks that the poem will be in a feminist theory perspective. The tone of the poem is judgmental, which is Giovanni expressing her critical opinions about men and women and at times disdainful, which expresses Giovanni’s scornful attitude towards males. The style of the poem is organized in six stanzas, but free verse and occasionally couplets. To the reader, the speaker is Giovanni’s perception of the male and female. Giovanni conveys the tone of disdainful in the first stanza by stating, “she wanted to be a blade of grass amid the fields but he wouldn’t agree to be the dandelion.” Giovanni expresses that the female wanted to be a blade of grass amid the fields, which means she wanted to be the strength of the plant and the male wouldn’t agree to be a dandelion. When the one thinks of a plant, one thinks about growth and development. This suggests that since the male didn’t want to be the dandelion, he didn’t want to be seen as less dominate than the female who is the blade of grass amid. Giovanni shifts the tone from disdainful, to judgmental, when she says, “she spun herself into a web and looking for a place to rest.” This suggest that the female is no longer free and instead is becoming submissive to the male and becomes trapped. In the end, this is what the male wanted. Giovanni also says, in the end, “she decided to become a woman and though he still refused to be a man she decided it was all right.” Giovanni declares that the female finally decided to not get married and instead become free and independent.
I disagree with your opinion on what Giovanni meant in regards to the last line, "she decided to become a man and though he still refused to be a man she decided it was all right." My perception of this was that the woman did not become free, but rather finally submitted to what the man wanted, a woman who cooked, cleaned, and took care of the children. Ideally, the woman wanted to be adventorous and spontanteous, but with the man's constant badgering and breaking her down, this was the only avenue for her to turn. With the use of the motifs, "plant" and "want," Giovanni notes that the woman did have aspirations, but the adversity from the man destroyed them. The message that Giovanni may have been trying to convey is the nature of the relationship that men and women share. I agree with you that Giovanni expressed negative sentiments about men, but I believe that with this poem it served as an explanation as to why she felt this way.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love your analysis; you looked at things from a complete different point of view. However, I do not necessarily agree with parts of what you are stating. I like how you focused on the woman trying to achieve independence and liberation. I do not think the poem ever portrayed a disdainful tone. I believe the poem presented a gloomy tone, due to all the rejections that the woman experienced with the man. I like how you looked at the first line as growth and development. From my perspective I thought it was referring to purity and innocence. I disagree with the woman deciding not to get married part. Where can one infer the marriage part? I thought the last stanza showed how the woman finally realized the man was not going to assist her and she decided to stand up for herself without anyone’s help.
ReplyDelete