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The Subliminal Message of Nikki Giovannis ‘Allowables’
Poetry has many legs that take readers places and forces them to see things in different perspectives. Nikki Giovannis poem Allowables articulates subliminal meanings that revolve around the death of a spider. This poem illustrates someone admitting to having killed a spider out of fear and then reflecting on their actions. Nikki Giovannis Allowables poetically develops the unequivocal theme that humans should be kind and not harm any living thing through the demonstration of various literary elements. The speaker/narrator of Allowables is an anonymous entity using first-person narration to establish a personable, yet relatable connection with audiences. The speaker incorporates repetition of the word I by using this pronoun on six separate occasions throughout this 16-line poem.
Audiences can assume that a human, either male or female, is the voice of the poem. The forthright first line of the poem, I killed a spider evokes a confessional voice of the story. Audiences reading the poems first line can make the assumption that the speaker has important information to share surrounding the death of this spider. By admitting the wrong violent act, the speaker can now have peace with their decisions and no longer have to internally struggle the perfect poetic justice. The speakers role in this poem is very significant to the evolution of the poems plot. The insight and information audiences gain towards the spiders qualities are through the narrators characterization using literary devices and techniques such as symbolism, metaphors, imagery, and personification in the poem. Spiders, in an outlook, are a symbolic representation of human fragility and the enticement of evil and the narrator supports this idea in the poem.
The speaker affirms readers that the spider is not a murderous brown recluse or black widow. The poems spider, among other diverse spiders, references diversity as a metaphor that all living things should live symbiotically with one another. Mentioning different species of spiders alludes to the poems theme that humans should not harm others, no matter who/what they are; diversity is something to embrace, not something to fear. Imagery and personification are later incorporated in the poems plot when audiences learn the spider was, only a small / Sort of papery spider . Visual images such as these explicate the spiders vulnerability. This small spider is described as papery which possesses the etymology of being thin, flimsy, weak, or vulnerable (OED). When audiences are reminded of the spiders weakness, it generates an empathetic tone for the spiders unfortunate death.
Finally, the speaker of the poem declares the spiders sex to be female through the incorporation of gender pronouns she and her on lines 9-11. Since the spider is a female, this characterization further illustrates the spiders prejudicial weakness. Therefore, the spiders vulnerability demonstrates to audiences that the spider was an unwilling and undeserving victim of the Tone and rhythm both play a significant role in constructing the audiences attitude towards the poems main subject matter. There is no specific meter, rhyme, or form in this free-verse poem. The first stanza starts fast and long (11 lines). This stanza begins with the confession, I killed a spider and ends with another revelation, And I smashed her which indicate a violentfeeling to the first stanza based on the actions verbs of killed and smashed . This stanza really displays the narrators external actions. Yet, after the eleventh line, there is a line break that indicates a shift in tone from violent to fearful. The rhythm is also impacted by the speakers decision to break up the poem into multiple stanzas.
From lines 12 16, there are 3 separate line breaks emphasizing the speakers realization of their actions. Line 13 states, I dont think and line 16 says, Frightened which are both clearly more emotion-based verbs than action-based verbs. Lines 13-16 act as one unit, one main idea that results in developing the rest of the theme for Allowables ; not harming one another based on fear. The speaker believes that they should not kill something based solely out of fear when they say, I dont think / Im allowed // To kill something // Because I am // Frightened . This section of the poem rebukes what the audience read on lines 1-11. These lines, now, are more spaced out and broken up to reveal and reflect on the speakers internal actions of fear.
Just like in everyday life, Allowables resembles instances where people act first and think second instead of the opposite. Nikki Giovannis poem incorporates various elements of irony that reflect the poems overall message. To start, the title Allowables means worthy of praise; praiseworthy, laudable. Yet, the speaker is not praising their actions, but contemplating them instead. The speaker wants death-by-fear to not be allowable. This makes for an ironic title for a piece centered mainly on retrospection. Allowables ironic title could be seen as a commentary, or maybe even a mockery of humans behavior of doing one thing, but saying another.
Meanwhile, there is another instance where irony is thrust into the poem for effect. When the narrator, picked up the book, to smash the spider, the book acts as an ironic symbol of human wisdom. This wisdom the speaker held in their hands was the knowledge that humans should not kill/harm something based off fear. The irony in Allowables is not by coincidence, but by consciousness.
The literary elements present in Allowables promote the mindset to not harm other beings/things, especially when fear gets in the way of rationality. While spiders can evoke fear, audiences must remind themselves that spiders, like all living things, do not deserve harm. The poem Allowables serves as a daily reminder to anyone that poetry, kindness, and emotional cautiousness can take someone farther than their own two legs can.
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