Alanis has never revealed much about her relationship with her parents. Alanis herself was a public figure having starred in movies and was an upcoming artist in music. The speaker’s motivation may stem from their personal experiences or observation of the frustration that children or students face because of the pressure to perform beyond their abilities. As such, teachers or therapists can present this poem to parents to paint a clear picture of the pressure under which they are putting their children. For example, some students may lose interest in an activity or education only because of the pressure from their parents to do better. This poem can be appropriate in situations where parents are seen to put too much pressure on their children to supersede their abilities. She used simple language that made it easy for the audience to understand the words and internalize the message. Morissette used language, structure, and imagery effectively to pass the message in the song. In the third line, the speaker states that “if you’re the best, then maybe so I am.” This shows that the parent is trying to get some assurance of their self-worth through their children. They want to use their child to prove to themselves that they were better than they turned out to be. In verse six, the poem shows that the parent is trying to amend his/her mistakes through the child. In verse 5, lines 2-4, the parent says that “You gotta try a little harder that simply wasn’t good enough to make us proud.” This phrase shows that no matter how hard the child tries, it is never good enough to make the parents proud, and they will always want her to work even harder and achieve their standards of perfection. The parents seem not to appreciate the child’s effort and always want the best according to their standards. However, they do not consider the child’s weaknesses and other factors that may hinder him from becoming the best that they expect him to be. For example, in verse 2, lines 1-2, the speaker says, “Don’t forget to win first place don’t forget to keep that smile on your face.” Here the parents expect the child to always appear on the top, to always be the first one in academics, sports, talents, among others. In this poem, a parent speaks to their child or children about how they will love them if they are perfect. Alanis shows that society will always place massive expectations from individuals and look up to them to perform them as though they were just simple tasks. The central theme in the poem is unfair expectations. ‘Perfect’ is a short poem by Alanis Morissette that talks about the expectation from society for one to be perfect.