Resume

Dorothy Parker is the author of the satirical lyric “Résumé,” which she published in her first poetry collection, Enough Rope (1926). The poem captures Parker’s famous acerbic wit and humor as she aims her sharp tongue at harmful behaviors. Specifically, Parker’s flippant attitude allows the speaker to bluntly address death by suicide with the poem’s key message: Don’t do it. The primary takeaway links to the themes of Suicide Versus Life, The Allure of Death and Self-Harm, and The Hardships of Life. “Résumé” is one of Parker’s most-read poems, and its glib tone matches that of her other works, such as the two-line poem “News Item” (1926) where she famously declares, “Men seldom make passes / At girls who wear glasses” (Lines 1-2).

Content Warning: As the Overview indicates, Parker’s poem centers on suicidal ideation and harmful behavior.

Poet Biography

Dorothy Parker was born during the summer of 1893 in New Jersey, but she grew up in New York City. She had two elder brothers and an older sister. Her father, J. Henry Rothschild, wasn’t related to the European Rothschilds (a family of prominent bankers), but he was a success in the cloak industry. Parker’s mother died before she was five years old, and her stepmother died around five years later. In Dorothy Parker: In Her Own Words (2004), Barry Day, the book’s editor, suggests these deaths turned the issue into a lifelong fascination for Parker.

Parker made money by working for publications like Vogue, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker. Specifically, she wrote fashion captions for Vogue and theater reviews for Vanity Fair. The cutting reviews jeopardized Vanity Fair’s finances, so they fired her, and she began writing book reviews for The New Yorker, which her friend, Harold Ross, founded with his wife, Jane Grant.

Ross was a member of the Round Table, a group of writers and creatives who gathered at New York City’s Algonquin Hotel and showed off their cunning wit around a round table in the hotel’s dining room. The riotous atmosphere matched the festive Jazz Age, where people like Parker deviated from conventional norms and opted for a less staid life.

Aside from producing a string of memorable remarks, Parker wrote poetry, short stories, plays, and screenplays. Her first volume of poetry, Enough Rope, came out in 1926, and it featured some of her most renowned poems, including “Résumé” and “News Item.” She published two other collections of poems, Sunset Gun (1928) and Death and Taxes (1931), and she wrote the screenplay for the first version of A Star is Born (1937), receiving an Oscar nominee for her script.

In 1917, Parker married the stockbroker Edwin Pond Parker II. She claims she married him so she could have his last name. Edwin fought in World War I and returned with drug problems. In 1928, they divorced, and Parker married the actor and writer Alan Campbell. Edwin and Alan both died from overdoses, while Parker attempted death by suicide multiple times.

Parker was an activist, and she left her money to Martin Luther King Jr. After James Earl Ray killed King, the money went to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Aside from anti-racism, Parker was anti-fascist and supported unions and socialism. She refused to denounce communism, and she died in 1967 in New York City.

Poem text

Razors pain you;

Rivers are damp;

Acids stain you;

And drugs cause cramp.

Guns aren’t lawful;

Nooses give;

Gas smells awful;

You might as well live.

Parker, Dorothy. “Résumé.” 1926. Poets.org.

Summary

Parker’s poem lists some of the ways that a person can die by suicide. After each option, her speaker explains a principal drawback. A person could use “razors” to cut their wrists, but that would be painful (Line 1). A person could drown in a river, but then they would be “damp” (Line 2). Ingesting “acids” might kill a person; however, acids tend to “stain” clothes (Line 3). Taking “drugs” (Line 4) might kill someone, but the copious drugs will lead to stomach cramps.

A person could use a gun to die by suicide, but guns are against the law. Hanging is often lethal, but “nooses” aren’t always sturdy—they tend to “give” way or break (Line 6). A person could die by suicide due to suffocating on “gas,” but then the person would have to smell the gas, and gas smells “awful” (Line 7). As the options listed by the speaker link to a particularly unpleasant outcome, the speaker ends the poem suggesting that people should choose life rather than death by suicide.