Monday, September 27, 2010

"Why kill yourself? Life will do it for you."

Dorothy Parker: depressed, yet expressive. We can see through Parker's poem, "Résumé", the many ways that she attempted to kill herself. She grew up very unhappy, with numerous deaths in her family, including her mother, step-mother, uncle and father. Although Dorothy Parker was well known for her wit and conversational style, she was also known for her depression, alcoholism and attempted suicide.
Suicide has been both condemned and condoned throughout history all over the world. It has mainly been condemned by some religions and sometimes even punishable by law. In India, specifically the Brahmans, suicide was once voluntary and highly praised.
Suicide literally means "self-killing" and although Parker tried so hard to commit fatal suicide, she only ever got to attempt the act.
Certainly, it is understandable that Dorothy Parker thought to herself at one point that killing herself would have been a good idea, but as we can see from her poem "Résumé," she never went through with it and decided that it was not worth it.
Suicide has been very hard to prevent due to the spontaneity of it and studies have tried to find reasons for all the different types of suicides. Sometimes, suicide is due to severe mental or emotional disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder or so much more. Other times, suicide is due to a quick lapse of judgement after an upsetting or disturbing event in their lives. This could range anywhere from the death of a pet, breaking up in a relationship or the death of someone close.
Due to the severity of suicide, it often takes a toll on other family members and friends that knew the person well. It is common that the people closest to them would have never known that they were ever unhappy or even dreamt of killing themselves.
But if Dorothy Parker had attempted suicide numerous times, don't you think that someone would have caught on and prevented her from carrying out her attempted suicide? Who knows now what people were thinking at the time. I am so glad that Parker kept herself alive, because she was so good at keeping herself together and building herself up, no matter what the conditions.

2 comments:

Joe Zack said...

Great post, Rachel. I agree with your views about Dorothy Parker completely! Her sense of humor proved quite hilarious, and I too am glad she didn't end up killing herself, although it may have led to more recognition for her years later.

Jess said...

This is incredibly interesting! I find Dorothy Parker so fascinating. Great job, Blondie :)