19 pages • 38 minutes read
Dorothy ParkerResume
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1926A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain” by Emily Dickinson (1896)
Emily Dickinson is a canonized American poet who lived during the 1800s. Like Parker, Dickinson has become something of a literary icon, with people speculating on Dickinson’s choice to severely limit her social interactions and her seemingly passionate relationship with her sister-in-law, Susan Huntington Gilbert. As with Parker, death fascinated Dickinson. Similar to Parker’s poem, “I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain” doesn’t present death as pleasant. Unlike Parker’s poem, Dickinson doesn’t turn death into a lighthearted satire. For Dickinson, death is intense and puzzling.
“Observation” by Dorothy Parker (1926)
“Observation” is another of Parker’s famous poems from her first collection, Enough Rope. Like “Résumé,” “Observation” is a satirical lyric. Unlike “Résumé,” Parker focuses on life in “Observation.” Putting the two together counters claims that life is mostly hardship and not much fun. In “Observation,” the speaker doesn’t “abstain from fun and such” (Line 5) and chooses to embrace life and their unique identity, declaring, “I shall stay the way I am, / Because I do not give a damn” (Lines 7-8). The pessimism of “Résumé” gives way to hope in “Observation.” What makes life hard is people trying to control others with their rules and regulations. As the speaker rebels against the restrictive norms, they enjoy life.
“The Crazy Woman” Gwendolyn Brooks (1960)
Gwyndelon Brooks is an American poet, and her lyric poem adds another layer to how Parker depicts life in “Résumé.” Parker’s speaker implies that life isn’t great, and Brooks’s speaker aligns with Parker’s in that judgment. Brook’s speaker would rather “sing a song of gray” (Line 4) in November instead of a joyous song in May. In other words, they prefer the gloom of fall and winter to the imputed joy of springtime. Brooks’s speaker practices what Parker’s speaker suggests: She “might as well live” (Line 8) and confront the unsettling aspects of life.
Further Literary Resources
“The Happy Prince” by Oscar Wilde (1888)
Oscar Wilde lived during the latter part of the 19th century, and, like Parker, he wrote stories, plays, and poems. Both figures became famous for their wit. As with Parker, Wilde’s quips belie a destressing life. Wilde was gay, and English authorities persecuted him for his sexuality, sentencing him to two years in jail.
In his short story for children, “The Happy Prince,” Wilde addresses the hardships of life. The Happy Prince was once a joyous royal, but now he’s a statue made of rubies. Realizing that his privileged life didn’t help others, the prince, now a statue with valuable rubies, befriends a bird and tells the bird to give his rubies to people struggling to live. As in “Résumé,” life isn’t much fun, yet a life of “pleasure”—like the kind the prince lived before he became a statue—wasn’t great either. In conversation with Parker’s poem, Wilde implies a person “might as well live” (Line 8) and help others live.
“Big Blonde” by Dorothy Parker (1929)
Parker’s short story appeared in her collection of short stories, Laments For Living (1930). Like the “you” (Lines 1, 3, 8) in “Résumé,” the main character, Hazel Morse, attempts death by suicide, overdosing on pills. The “drugs” don’t “cause cramp” (Line 4) or death, as a domestic worker comes to her aid. Similar to the speaker in the poem, Hazel decides she “might as well live,” though life doesn’t bring Hazel joy.
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle directed by Alan Rudolph (1994)
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle is a biopic about Dorothy Parker and the members of the Algonquin Round Table. The American actress Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Parker, and Leigh gives Parker a tiresome tone, as if she is always unhappy and disappointed with life. At the same time, the movie captures the zest of the Jazz Age and the festive atmosphere that coincided with Parker’s use of melancholy. In the movie, Leigh reads a few of Parker’s poems, including “Résumé.”
Listen to Poem
Watch Jennifer Jason Leigh recite Parker’s caustic lyric in a scene from Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994). Leigh plays Parker, and Leigh’s lugubrious reading indicates Parker often didn’t follow the poem’s advice.
