Lack Of Communication With Family In 'Legacies' By Nikki Giovanni

Families are something that people are given at birth. They are someone with who the members should be able to be comfortable. Families build their relatives into the people they grow up to be, and give them a support system. They teach the ways of life. Humans are social creatures, who rely on others; however, communication with family can be challenging. Humans care for and love their families which makes them not want to disappoint the ones they look up to. The lack of communication leads to family disconnect, although it is not intended, is bound to happen if people do not verbally express how they feel. This miscommunication happens in nearly every family and is depicted remarkably in the poems, “Legacies” by Nikki Giovanni, “Those Winter

The family does not suspect anything because they have no reason to. Moreover, they only see him for how he perceives himself to them. The boy in this family is gay and feels as if he cannot be his true self, but that does not stop him from always being there for his family. He speaks about family gatherings. These gatherings are supposed to show unity and family love, but he feels as if he cannot truly have all of this love. He feels neglected because they love the version of himself that he, in a way, fakes because it is not fully him. The description of the family functions that he attends is a reflection of what he sees and feels. It makes him feel as if he is wearing a mask and his family doesn’t see him. The quote where Hemphill expresses how he is always there says, “I am always there for critical emergencies, graduations, the middle of the night”. This stanza emphasizes how much Hemphill loves his family to the point he would help them even in the middle of the night. This can also lead to the fact that he so desperately wants to be accepted that he would sacrifice something so important like sleep to be there for his family. However, the whole idea of the poem is not being seen and the responsibilities that he feels he must do. The responsibilities he feels are duties, while only being seen as a small part of himself makes him feel somewhat disconnected from his family. Hemphill’s family disconnect is different from Giovanni’s and Hayden’s. From what the reader can infer, Hemphill’s family does not feel a divide between themselves because Hemphill has not told them about his sexuality. This is how miscommunication ties into “Commitments”. He is being dishonest about who he is when interacting with his