Life In Nikki Giovanni's Poem Choices

“Now, everything I do, I do because I want to. And I believe the best is yet to come.” (Giovanni,1). When one has finally reached the point in their life where they have achieved every goal and overcame every obstacle then they have earned a fulfilled life. Nikki Giovanni attests to being optimistic and aspiring. In Giovanni’s poem Choices, she expresses the choices that are to be made in everyones lives. The poem Choices was published shortly after her father’s death. In the period, Giovanni began to have an epiphany with her own life and choices. She discovered how one must sustain an optimistic attitude. Also, she extended on the idea that accepting one’s current situation will take one to greater lengths. Furthermore, when Giovanni wrote the poem she was experiencing a tragic shift in her adult life. The tragedy was unexpected and Giovanni was not aware how her preceding choices would impact the continuation of her life. Giovanni wrote the poem choices to emphasize the process of life’s unexpected and hated experiences. Giovanni discusses accepting the situations and growing

In the third stanza, Giovanni states “If I can't have what I want . . . then my job is to want what I’ve got and be satisfied that at least there is something more to want.” (Givanni,1). After accepting the situation for what it is, Giovanni begins to compromise. Compromise “is a basic negotiation process in which both parties give up something that they want in order to get something else they want more. Compromises usually occur in win-lose situations -- when there is a fixed pie to be divided up, and whatever one side gets, the other side loses.” (Spangler,1). According to Spangler, compromising involves sacrificing one possession for another. Also, the reward for sacrificing will be greater than what was given up. In this case, compromise is negotiating between oneself and the decisions to be