Janice Mirikitani's Suicide

Unfortunately suicide is the absolute result of conditions such as untreated depression, negative events in one’s life, stress and other occurrences. Sadly suicide rates have only been increasing (according to numbers that the story provides). Janice Mirikitani’s poem “Suicide Note” specifically expresses her struggle in pleasing her parents by emphasizing no matter how hard she tries, she simply is not good enough. Mirikitani explains in lines nine through twenty her effort to fulfill her parents; line ten mentions that if only she were a son, maybe she would satisfy her parents. She believes she could’ve seen the light her in mothers as it says in line 12, in other words, she would see her mother’s pride for Janice. She explains how she can only make her father proud if she had “wide, male hands of worthy work…” as told in lines fourteen and fifteen. Mirikitani explains further in the stanza in lines eighteen and nineteen that if only she were a son, maybe she would receive praise from her parents. This stanza is put in the beginning of

In lines twenty-five through twenty-eight Janice wrote “Each failure, a glacier. Each disapproval, a bootprint. Each disappointment, ice above my river.”. She is reflecting not only what she sees, but what her parent’s view of her. Her mistakes are so monumental that it is as if it blocks everything else like a glacier. Or her errors cover her completely like a sheet of ice or impress her forever like a boot print. It does not matter that she worked hard since she is not acknowledged for it, because the only thing visible are her slip-ups. Janice only got criticism and dissatisfaction from her parents, leading to make her feel empty and worthless. She ends the stanza with “So I have worked hard. Not good enough.” She indicates that she does put strong effort into her work, yet she still is not good