story name : choices by nikki giovanni
Does the speaker feel free to fully express her feelings? Cite evidence from the final stanza in your response.
In the final stanza of the poem "Choices" by Nikki Giovanni, it can be inferred that the speaker does not feel completely free to fully express her feelings.
The evidence for this can be found in the lines: "if i had known i would’ve taken her perfect kiss and sealed it in my heart / and shared it with my sister" (lines 27-28). These lines suggest that the speaker had the desire to express her love and affection for someone, but due to some constraint or limitation, she was unable to fully do so. Instead of openly sharing her feelings, she mentions "sealing" the kiss in her heart and only sharing it with her sister. This implies that the speaker feels restricted in expressing her love openly, possibly due to societal expectations or personal inhibitions.
Furthermore, the use of the conditional "if" in the beginning of the stanza indicates that the speaker is reflecting upon a missed opportunity, suggesting that there was a choice to be made in expressing her feelings, but she was unable to do so freely. This further supports the idea that the speaker does not feel fully able to express her emotions without constraint.
Overall, the evidence from the final stanza of "Choices" suggests that the speaker does not feel completely free to fully express her feelings, which is reflected in her regret over not being able to openly share love and affection.