[Professor]
For this paper, the poem suicide note by Janice Mirikitani has been chosen to illustrate how the unsuccessful fulfillment of an expectation affects a person emotionally. Two of the literary devices that are quite evident in the poem are the techniques of catharsis and tragedy. Catharsis is present in the whole of the poem as it is the college girl’s final release of emotions from fear and anxiety. Fear that she may not fulfill her father’s expectations and anxiety that she might not be able to perfect the next tasks that she is bound to make. It is as well tragic since it is a preemptive note to a death of a young college girl. Because of her inability to rise to her parents’ expectations the girl had thought of no other recourse except suicide.
The poem suicide note unlike the other poems by Janice Mirikitani does not have enough scholarly articles to discuss and analysis the vital points of the poem. Instead, an excerpt from the book Asian-American Poets: A Bio-bibliographical Critical Sourcebook by Huang and Nelson was able to inform the readers of the text of the meaning of the poem. According to Huang and Nelson, the poem suicide note was created by Mirikitani as a form of a challenge to the cultural expectations of Asian and Asian American women (238). The poem as the authors have explained an elucidation of the destructive output of imbibing the “model minority” myth. This fact is in agreement from the poem as it was intended to be read by the girl’s parents as a form of an apology. This poem is an apology for not attaining a perfect grade point average and for not being pretty enough. I do agree with Huang and Nelson’s analysis of the poem. Since it can be read from one part of the poem that the girl had wished also to become a son to give pride to her father’s dream. It is a known fact that in the Asian culture, the sons are the next carriers of the family name or the family business. In this case, since she was a girl more pressure was given to her to prove that she is worthy enough for a higher place in the family.
I do believe the text written as it is a fact that men are favored in the stereotypical Asian family. According to Almond, Edlund, and Milligan, such a preference for the men is used to characterize Chinese traditions (3). According to the researchers in Chinese traditions, lineage is traced mainly through the line of the male. Failure to give birth to a son is considered as an equivalent to the familial line extinction. Not only is it tantamount to the familial extinction, not producing a son is as well considered an insult to the Confucian values (Almond, Edlund and Milligan, 4). I believe that such a point is explained by Janice Mirikitani by which she illustrates the challenges that an Asian-American girl goes through within the family. By just mere analysis of the line “if only I were a son” already features the cultural pressure that is brought upon the girl by her parents. By writing such a text, Janice Mirikitani addresses the typical problem that an Asia woman goes through within the family because of cultural expectations. Aside from that scenario, the poem also illustrates cultural values that are expected of a woman in the family. The woman is highly expected to work hard to be recognized and to be apologetic enough when she fails to meet expectations. I think the poem in itself is still relevant for this day’s issues. There is still evidence of gender discrimination not only in Asia but also in the global context. I could not think of a part of the poem that is still not relevant to today’s environment. There are still existing families who bestow pressure upon their female offsprings.
I can only think of one thing that the poem can teach its readers, and that is every person is valuable regardless of its gender. Men and women alike have the capacity to work hard and to do great things. Both people can make a great impact on the world and that women and men can both conquer the world without even referring to their genders. The girl’s life could have been saved the parents considered a more lenient approach to care for their child. Now, we should ask ourselves, is gender preference in the family at this day and age still a worthy tribute to the long and obsolete culture of yesterday?
Works Cited
Almond, Douglas, Lena Edlund, and Kevin Milligan. Son Preference and the Persistence of Culture: Evidence from Asian Immigrants to Canada. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2009. Web.
Huang, Guiyou, and Emmanuel Nelson. "Janice Mirikitani." Asian American Poets: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002. 238. Print.
