Poetry Analysis Essay
Donn Brunson
English 102
November 25, 2016
The poem Suicide Note (Mirikitani, 1987) is truly a very sad poem. It is about a young woman who happens to be Asian-American attending college. This young woman eventually commits suicide by jumping from a window in her dorm. What this poem is her last words put on paper. These are her feelings as well as her final thoughts. Her last words have been put into the form of a poem to let the reader see what causes a seemingly intelligent young woman to take her life. This has a great deal to do with self-esteem and self-worth. It is obvious that this young woman was troubled with feelings of not being good enough and that she will never be. The poem itself is framed to be a note to her parents. The question has to be asked. What was happening in this young lady’s life that felt she felt she had to take her own life? Whose truly at fault?
To begin to understand her, you must examine her personality. She seems to be driven by a need to be perfect which in turns cause to be very critical of her own self. A person like that usually sets incredibly high standards for his or her self sometimes impossible standards to achieve. You see consistently in poem how she feels she is not pretty enough, not good enough and not smart enough. This gives us access to her true thoughts and feelings. It appears that she didn’t get high grades on her tests in college. It might be interpreted that her parents cared more her grades than truly loving their daughter for who she is.
She compares herself to a bird-the sparrow that is about to take spread its wings and finally fly away. She uses the term ice above her river to describe her deficiencies. As the snow begins to fall, she ponders what to do next. She soon realizes how her parents may feel about what she will do. She considers it failure on her part. She soon begins to make apologies for her short comings. These short comings are caused by the way her parents raised and treated her in her life. Her parents essentially destroyed her self-esteem and confidence.
Because of this she cannot deal with what life has for her the good and bad. So she basically gives up on future and life and comes to the decision there is only one way out and that is suicide. She compares herself to the sparrow as if the sparrow has flown into a storm and can’t escape. She believes that if she had been born man, she would not have all these problems to deal with. In her mind men are stronger and are capable of handling tough situations. I would swagger through life muscled…. (Line 17). All people including men at times have doubts about themselves. She fails to understand that. We all go through periods in which we feel less than perfect but we find a way of dealing with these issues. Suicide is certainly not on the plate for most of us. I think that no matter what this young woman went through, she would always feel that she will fail at it or simply not be good enough for her parents. She could see the bright side of things and even when something good came along, all she would see is the dark side of things.