Legacies and Heritage
Nikki Giovanni and Linda Hogan both wrote poems in the 1970s about their grandmothers that seem totally different to the unaware reader. In actuality, they are very similar. These two poems, Legacies and Heritage, express the poet's value of knowledge passed down from grandmother to granddaughter, from generation to generation. Even though the poems are composed and read very differently, the underlying message conveyed is the same, and each are valid first-hand accounts of legacies and heritages. While Giovanni's Legacies is only about the grandmother, Hogan's Heritage describes, in addition to the grandmother's and her advice, the advice and appearances of other family members. Despite this, the grandmother remains the focus. In Giovanni's poem, the grandmother needs no introduction or background given for her. In Heritage, however, the mention of the other family members seems to set the stage for Hogan's mystical grandmother. Linda Hogan is a woman of mixed background; she is part Chickasaw Indian, and part Caucasian. This seems to cause Hogan doubts about herself. This is illustrated in the line " It was the brown stain/ that covered my shirt, / my whiteness a shame." (Hogan 243) These doubts coul
and her mother was part Jewish. Hogan may feel a similar pain, because in antiquity, the whites new to this continent exploited and killed Indians. She probably feels self-loathing in response to being around her Indian relatives, due to her white background. Giovanni does not feel any internal conflict concerning her heritage, but she is conflicted when her grandmother asks for her company. Because even though the older woman asks the girl to learn from her, all she wants, in reality, is the company of youth, and time to spend with her granddaughter. In Legacies, we are shown what the granddaughter is thinking behind the words of the refusal:" . . . even if she couldn't say it that/ that would mean when the old one died she would be/ less dependant on her spirit so..."(Giovanni 468). This means that the girl wants to be dependant on her grandmother even after she dies. Many younger children have a fear of being alone and having no one to take care of them. Therefore, her conflict lays in her words and thoughts. Some part of her may want to learn how to make rolls, but the thought of no longer needing her grandmother outweighs her desire for knowledge. So even after the grandmother passes away, Giovanni will always rely on her to make the best rolls. Linda Hogan has no such doubts or reservat
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Approximate Word count = 877
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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