A Perfect Expression

Ask anyone what it means to be perfect or how to lead a perfect life and it is very likely that every person asked will give a very similar answer. Society has defined what perfect is and how one should achieve it, but in reality it should be an individual choice. Everyone’s definition of perfect whether it is referring to someone’s life, love, partner, job, house, etc. should be tailored to fit their goals and personalities, not someone else’s just because that is how it has always been. In the poem One Perfect Rose, Dorothy Parker uses the word perfect in different tones to express her frustrations with how society has defined what the “perfect” expression of love should be.

The poem reemphasizes the widely accepted impression that the greatest way for one to show their love is by giving a perfect rose. The question the narrator poses with this poem is why this is the perfect way to express ones love and affection for another person. No one knows how a rose became the symbol of an expression of love, but she wants to know why it cannot be a limousine. For her the perfect expression of love is not a rose, even though overall as a society that is what most people believe. She wants someone to express their love for her by sending her a limousine. For some they would not understand how a chunk of metal on wheels defines a person’s love for someone, but that is her individual choice, not societies.

At the beginning of the poem she uses the word perfect to describe society’s view for a rose being the perfect way to express love. By the end however, she uses the word perfect sarcastically to emphasize her point that she does not agree with society’s opinion, except for when she uses perfect in a personal way when she says she wants to be given the “perfect limousine” as an, I love you. She expresses her feelings toward society’s idea of perfect and her own, making it clear that she does not share the same emotional attachment to