The Suicide Note By Janice Mirikitani

It’s easy to feel worthless. Almost every person feels this deep emotion at some time in life, but people handle it different. Everywhere people are always judging. Judgement from parents, from family, and even from friends is inescapable. People can tear themselves down in many ways, such as through school, not feeling they look good enough, and even just not feeling like they’re ever good enough to be living on Earth. In Janice Mirikitani’s poem “Suicide Note,” it talks about an Asian-American student currently in college. She tries her hardest, she wants to succeed and make her parents proud. Her parents have high standards for her, as they want her to receive a 4.0 grade point average. Although she gives her best effort, her grade point average is still less than a 4.0, and for that reason her parents are not proud of her, she’s not their perfect, ideal daughter. So she enters that point where she no longer feels proud of her accomplishments, she feels worthless, and unintelligent. She decides to commit suicide by jumping out of a window in her college dorm. In her suicide note she apologizes to her parents for not being good enough. “Suicide Note” is a free form poem, it has no set stanzaic pattern, the sentences break in unexpected places, and the structure varies throughout the poem. It uses imagery to connect with the reader, and the stanzas are set up in way that make the lines to appear as they are falling. Through the use of enjambment, and end-stopped line the

In her poem "Suicide Note", Janice Mirikanti expresses that the amount of stress she's experiencing is a result of the continuous pressure from her parents and culture. In her poem she apologizes to her parents. She even goes on to say that if she were a boy that things could possibly be easier for her. She expresses that she gives each task her all, no matter the difficulty and somehow still fails to receive validation. In the poem she uses key words or phrases to trigger specific emotions within the reader such as "not good enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough."

Throughout history, there have been many wars that were fought. When thinking of combats, many citizens associate battles with the thought of physical wars, but many don't think of the mental battles that might occur within a person. Teen suicide, which is known as the second leading cause of death globally, is frequently overlooked and underestimated as a problem when confronted about it. The poem, Romeo and Juliet by the famous author William Shakespeare, uses literature to profoundly go into the concept of how suicide can affect everyone. The community of Orland Park has taken their part to inform the society, by setting up basic services for people to learn or get help about suicide prevention. While resources are available in our

The poem “Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note” by Amiri Baraka uses vivid images of sights, sounds, and daily activities to symbolize a heartfelt story. In the poem, Amiri, is one of the African American slaves who is frustrated about the discriminatory treatment by whites. So frustrated he wants to commit suicide. The writer used transition words starting with “lately”, “now”, and “then” for each stanza. He was imagining how he acted before his death and how his daughter reacted to his death.

“Never push a loyal person to a point where they no longer care.” Innocent people will end up doing desperate things for others just the way Conrad committed suicide because his girlfriend made him. Michelle, the girlfriend forced him to kill himself so many times till one day he finally decided too because he couldn’t take it anymore. The ”Suicide By Text” case has prompted many people to discuss social issues such as depression and emotional manipulation.

happens to her. Throughout my paper, I hope to analyze the poem, and ultimately gain a

As expressed, through the short story “Patriotism,” Yukio Mishima explains how suicide can be an honorable act rather than what most critics would say to be a cowardly one. “Patriotism” successfully depicts Mishima’s real life events of when he had led a rebellion to overthrow the westernized Japanese government. Yukio Mishima successfully portrays how suicide can be honorable through

Janice Mirikitani’s words in this poem is depressing and her message is blunt. This poem has a way of making the reader feels like they going through the same thing that the young asian american was going through. “Suicide Note” illustrates an individual's need to be themselves, as well as parents instinctual nature to want the best for their children, and how both of these things go completely

“When you died, part of me died too,Now i'm finishing off the rest, so we can be together...I’m coming.” Is a direct quote from Junes suicide note to Delia wishing her a sincere see you soon. A book of a sad suicide turns into a brutal murder but for what? A beautiful lie or did little girls really die? Lynn Weingarten wrote a New York bestseller, suicide notes from beautiful girls, it was a hit in New York but due to all the disregard for the law, lack of respect for authority, and all the talk of sinful lives this won't make the Top Salem Seller.

Kirkey, Sharon. "Salvation or Slippery Slope." Postmedia News. 01 Oct. 2011: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 26 Aug. 2015.

Researchers conduct hypotheses that suicide could be contagious. Researchers had a total of 22,064 individuals ages 12 to 17. When conducting the study they met on cycles to monitor the exposure to suicide. All groups which were separated into age had an outcome of 95% of exposure to suicide. Researchers also questioned how often certain groups were or had feelings of depression or suicidal thoughts from stressful events during the cycles. In further research, 24.1% from the ages 16 and 17 responded that someone from school has committed suicide and which 20.1%

The poem Suicide Note, written by Janice Mirikitani (1987), talks about a young lady, who has studied in an Asian-American female college. The lady, unfortunately, committed suicide by jumping through her dormitory’s window. She left behind a note, citing reasons that led to her actions. After a critical analysis of the note, her parents were held responsible for her actions; they were pressurizing her to perform better in her exams. The poem, thus, describes the real feelings and the emotions of this young lady, who believes that committing suicide is the only option left to please her parents and to escape the enormous pressure placed on her. The persona uses voice in the poem to bring our attention to the sufferings she was going through, and that led to the devastating event. Voice in poetry is the strong words of a line, stanza or a page that creates a relationship between the audience and the persona. Voice can, therefore, be categorized as imagery, patterns of sounds created, rhythm, tone, and diction (Gahern 166). The following is a description of how the voice in Mirikitani’s suicide note helps the reader understand the persona’s reasoning.

The speaker states, “This air will not hold me, the snow burdens my crippled wings” (45-46). The speaker describes herself as a fragile bird forced down by the snow because she is weak. The snow represents men keeping women suppressed, and the speakers crippled wings are what the years of oppression have done to her already. The speaker repeats these words several times, “not good enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not strong enough” (3, 8, 22, 30, 41, 48). Rearranged in different orders throughout the poem the repetition of similar word phrases induce an emotional response to the poem, and sets a sorrowful tone. The title of the poem “Suicide Note” predicts what will come of the speaker at the end of the poem, which is the act of committing suicide. The actual suicide stands for a bigger picture in the speaker’s life; for it is the only way, she can free herself from the harsh gender inequalities that haunt her every thought. The speaker becomes free from oppression, ridicule, pain, and suffering for the first time when she ends her life.

The last two lines of the poem possess an extremely powerful sense of defeat and sorrow.

Have you ever known someone who’s committed or tried to commit suicide and thought, “I wish I would’ve done something, said something, to stop it from happening?” I know I would ask myself that question everyday if I hadn’t. A few years ago, a good friend of mine thought her life was so bad she wanted to end it. I did the only thing I could think, and told the nearest teacher. It may sound so childish or stupid, but it worked. Luckily, she’s still alive and well. I’m here to make sure you can make the difference and help a person who might be, or is suicidal. Just think of what would happen if you didn’t try to help.