Essay on Suicide Note

Submitted By SoggyPotato
Words: 498
Pages: 2

“Suicide Note” is about a suicidal young college woman who feels she is not good enough for her parents. The overall theme in this poem is depression and failure. The woman in the poem feels she is not perfect. No matter what she does, even major accomplishments, she feels that it is a failure in her parents’ eyes. The young woman in the poem has the need to be perfect in the eyes of her parents, and because of this she is very critical of herself and always doubts what she does no matter how big of an accomplishment it is, she feels it is not enough to please her parents. The reoccurring lines in the poem “not good enough, not smart enough, not pretty enough” really hits the reader hard as it shows how the young woman’s self-doubt has really impacted her. It is mentioned how the young woman had failed to get the grades her parents wanted to her get which shows that her parents did not care much about for her but instead they are more concern about grades and doing well in school. She is unable to accept her imperfections implying in the lines “I would swagger through life, muscled and bold and assured, drawing praises to me” that if only she were born a boy that life would be much easier and her parents would be able to accept her, flaws and all. Instead of hoping that her problems would alleviate she gives up hope. She compares herself to a sparrow trying to fly during a winter snow storm which would inevitably fail. The girl felt as if no matter what she had done it was always going to be a failure. She always sees the dark cloud beside each silver lining. Furthermore, she feels sorry for disappointing her parents feeling that she could have been better if