In Parker’s poem “Men,” Parker present’s men’s love appears misleading and controlling. Parker asserts that men “hail [women] as their morning star / Because [they] are the way [they] are” (“Men” 1-2). In order to initially capture the hearts of women, men knowingly tell women exactly what they want to hear in hopes of winning them over. Parker believes that men idolize all the natural features that a woman possesses and disillusion her into believing that he worships her as well as her natural beauty. Parker makes the faulty generalization that all men are twisted, manipulative jerks that want out of a relationship simply what will benefit themselves. According to Bloom, “Dalliance… is the aim of the men.” She argues that to men, women are
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The title provides the initial dose of irony (that continues throughout the poem) because of the combination of the word résumé and resume. The methodical catalogue of suicide methods, “Razors pain you; / Rivers are damp; / Acids stain you; / And drugs cause cramp. / Guns aren’t lawful; Nooses give; Gas smells awful,” provides an insight into the suicide considerations Parker goes through before her first suicide attempt (“Resumé” 1-7). Parker initially believes in death as a task that should be taken seriously. Due to the lack of rhetorical devices and the growing stack of suicide strategies, Parker communicates that she views suicide as simple. The “greater seriousness” of Parker’s “banal” poetry that she conjures remains the taunting blockade of the consequences involved in taking her own life (Bloom 2168). The painful and unlawful aspects of Parker’s vision of suicide hold her back from committing to death because she views suicide as weak and pathetic. In the end, when Parker gives in and states, “You might as well live” (“Resumé” 8). By doing so, she recognizes (for the time being) that her habit to commit suicide will never work. Parker believes everyone, not just herself, should yearn his living; people should look death square in the eye and laugh. After a while, the laundry list becomes annoying to Parker because suicide proves painful to achieve. To Parker, life is less of a hassle than the meticulous process of killing herself. Fortunately for the literary world, but unfortunately for Dorothy Parker, her tendency to commit suicide fails to catch on even after four
The title provides the initial dose of irony (that continues throughout the poem) because of the combination of the word résumé and resume. The methodical catalogue of suicide methods, “Razors pain you; / Rivers are damp; / Acids stain you; / And drugs cause cramp. / Guns aren’t lawful; Nooses give; Gas smells awful,” provides an insight into the suicide considerations Parker goes through before her first suicide attempt (“Resumé” 1-7). Parker initially believes in death as a task that should be taken seriously. Due to the lack of rhetorical devices and the growing stack of suicide strategies, Parker communicates that she views suicide as simple. The “greater seriousness” of Parker’s “banal” poetry that she conjures remains the taunting blockade of the consequences involved in taking her own life (Bloom 2168). The painful and unlawful aspects of Parker’s vision of suicide hold her back from committing to death because she views suicide as weak and pathetic. In the end, when Parker gives in and states, “You might as well live” (“Resumé” 8). By doing so, she recognizes (for the time being) that her habit to commit suicide will never work. Parker believes everyone, not just herself, should yearn his living; people should look death square in the eye and laugh. After a while, the laundry list becomes annoying to Parker because suicide proves painful to achieve. To Parker, life is less of a hassle than the meticulous process of killing herself. Fortunately for the literary world, but unfortunately for Dorothy Parker, her tendency to commit suicide fails to catch on even after four