For a young, passionate student, the expectations of peers, teachers, and parents can be intimidating and emotionally draining. For most parents, their child's success is a top priority, and children want to exceed their parents' expectations by achieving good grades and high academic achievement. In the poem "Suicide Note" by Janice Mirikitani, an Asian American student struggles to live up to her parents' expectations. She doesn't get the perfect grade point average that her parents expect and she doesn't have the strength to face them in person. For this young student, her strengths are not strong enough, and her will and determination are dominated by insecurity and discontent. The speaker is in a constant battle with her self-esteem; her femininity becomes a burden on her and she believes that her failure will bring much disappointment to her parents and denigrate their perception of her. In Asian culture, men are generally considered to be strong, intelligent and independent. In “Suicide Note,” the speaker wishes she were a son, so she could feel confident and strong despite all the difficulties in her life. In the poem, the speaker compares herself to a fragile female bird, faced with the hard snow of winter. Apologizing to her parents, she says, “If only I were a son, broad-shouldered/ like the sunset through the pine tree” (Mirikitani 10-11). The speaker contrasts her situation in the cold, hard snow with the warmth of the sunset through the flowering trees. If she were a boy, she could get her parents' approval; s...... middle of paper ......acceptance in herself and through her parents. She is a young student who must face the pressures of her culture, her parents, her peers and her teachers. Her strength and power to be independent from her parents could not prevail, and an apology is the only thing she can offer her parents. The speaker keeps telling herself that she is not good enough, strong or intelligent enough to succeed; many people struggle with the same problem as the speaker, and it is up to the power within to overcome it. 5 Works Cited Kirszner, Laurie G. and Stephen R. Mandell. Portable literature: read, react, write, 7th grade. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Mirkitani, Janice. “Suicide note”, 488-490 .