research essay

Nimit Patel

Professor Randall

English 1102

23 April 2018

“The Relationship between Grandmother and Grandson in Alberto Rios’s Nani”

Children tend to have close relationships with their grandparents. The strength of these relations is driven by the caring nature of grandparents. The latter does not have much to do in life as they have retired and physically inactive, thus spend most of their time at home. When the grandchildren visit them, they allocate all their attention to them by attending to their needs as seen in Alberto Rios’s poem, Nani. In the latter, the speaker is reminiscing about his engagement with his grandmother during childhood days, which shows how the two were close to each other. The speaker details on his efforts to speak with his grandmother who spoke Spanish. As such, the struggled to use words; nonetheless, they still connected (Parini). Despite this, the relationship between the speaker and her grandmother changes over time, because of the dynamics in life. Therefore, while the two had a strong connection in the past, changes in the dynamics of life had impacted their relationship as they are no longer close as they use to be when she was alive.

Alberto Rios shows that the grandmother was very caring to the speaker when he writes, “Nani never serves herself, and she only watches me with her skin, her hair.” Here, Rios implies that grandmothers sacrifice their well-being to enhance the welfare of their grandchildren. In this scene, the grandmother dedicated her time and energy to provide the speaker with good and enough food to satisfy his needs. Primarily this is highlighted by the fact that she was never reluctant to serve the speaker in times of need. The close relationship between the two enabled them to remain connected irrespective of the fact that they struggled to use words as her grandmother spoke Spanish (Parini). However, they now have a different relationship as the speaker cannot tell how close he used to be with his grandmother. Thus, the changing aspects of life have affected their relationship as the speaker and his grandmother are no longer close like they use to be.

The speaker is fascinated and surprised at his grandmother’s compassion which strengthened their relationship. As such, the speaker states, “I might have had to say more out of embarrassment.” Here, Rios implies that he is perplexed by her kindness to the point that it makes him feel nervous. He has to say more to showcase his commitment to the relationship with his grandmother (Athanases, David, and Susan). While he has nothing much to do, he struggles to use the words to connect with his grandmother. He states, “All my words make her smile.” With this, Rios is struggling to connect with his grandmother, but out of embarrassment, he decided to say more words. Evidently, her grandmother cannot connect with the foreign words that he mumbles, but still, this makes her smile (Lundberg). Both the speaker and his grandmother are struggling to connect with each other irrespective of the fact that they do speak different languages. At this point, the speaker is embarrassed as he had little grasp of the Spanish language. While this is a major difference between the two, their relationship is not distrusted as it is augmented by compassion and love (Athanases, David, and Susan). Nonetheless, this did not last forever due to the ever-changing situations. As such, the relationship between the speaker and his grandmother changed over time. Despite their string confection in the past, the situation is no different as they are longer close again.

In the poem, the speaker knew that her grandmother valued him a lot. Alberto Rios shows how valuable the narrator was to the grandmother when he writes, “and I wonder just how much of me will die with her.” Rios shows that the grandmother’s love to the speaker was unconditional. For this reason, the speaker believes that a significant part of him died with his grandmother. The grandmother cooks and serves only for the speaker, an aspect that emphasizes the love between the two. Notably, she does not cook for herself, but for her grandchild. The speaker states, “Her insides speak through a hundred wrinkles, now, more than she can bear, steel around her, shouting, then, what is this thing she serves?” With this, Rios shows that she speaks with intonation and emotion (Lundberg). Notably, the speaker details on the old age of his grandmother, but their relationship is still strong. How he wishes he could still speak the Spanish language as he used to while at a tender age (Kanellos). Therefore, the speaker highly compliments his grandmother irrespective of the current situation in his life. It is through these experiences they shared that the speaker wonders how much he meant to his grandmother. Evidently, the situation is not the same as the past as he feels. Despite the fact that he is proud of his grandmother, their relationship has changed since her death which has impacted their connection.

As highlighted, the relationships between grandchildren and grandparents change over time, majorly because of the dynamics of life. In the poem, the speaker implies his distance relationship with the grandmother despite being close to each other in the past when he says, “To speak now-foreign words I used to speak.” The statement shows that the narrator has grown significantly from the time poem’s scene took place. For this reason, he cannot tell how he used to be close to the grandmother. Initially, he had time to build a connection with her, but this was affected by his inability to speak the native language. He ran out of time to rebuild his communication of words with his grandmother (Lundberg). His grandmother strived to be the best that she could be to his grandchild but that cannot be highlighted on anymore after she died. It is sad to note the current situation as the speaker is coming to terms with the changed aspects. Evidently, this has been devastating to their relationship as they are no longer close like they used to be. Thus, he could not be close to her as he used to be if she was alive.

Alberto Rios informs readers about the strong relationship that exists between grandparents and grandchildren. In the Nani poem, the speaker remembers a scene when his grandmother served him with a good meal (Kanellos). The care and affection that the grandmother showed to the narrator lead to him wondering how much she valued him. It is a beautiful poem that I can relate to. My grandmother is still alive, and I have visited her a couple of times in the past whereby I was fascinated by her compassion and love. It is a strong connection that fosters a positive relationship. Just like Rios’ grandmother, she treats her grandchildren nicely and cannot let anyone help her out in the kitchen. With this, the grandmother was proud of herself as she served the speaker with her delicious cooking. Implicitly, the strong bond the two had makes the speaker to still remember the grandmother despite their connection not being as strong as it was in the past. After reading this poem, I was fascinated with the connection between the speaker and his grandmother. Does the protagonist still miss her grandmother when he wrote the poem?

Works Cited

Athanases, Steven Z., David Christiano, and Susan Drexler. "Family gumbo: Urban students respond to contemporary poets of color." The English Journal 81.5 (1992): 45-54.

Kanellos, Nicolás, ed. Herencia: The anthology of Hispanic literature of the United States. Oxford University Press, 2001.

Lundberg, John. Poems about Family. 2011

Parini, Jay. The Wadsworth anthology of poetry. Cengage Learning, 2005.

Rios, Alberto. Nani. N.d.