The brain starts the size of a seed and develops along the growth of a person. A brain holds a hundred billion cells, but even with this capacity, its potential is easily stunuted. Poems help turn the science of life into a fresh analytical perspective. The challenge poems offer is stretching the mind to see the world from a new perspective. The poems “Barbie Doll”, by Marge Piercy, and “Kitchenette Building”, by Gwendolyn Brooks, provide twisting plots that offer a new fresh and personal perspective of society's views. The poems “Barbie Doll” and “Kitchenette Building” show how society limits the potential of its own people. The restrictions are seen through the examination of the judgment from bystanders, suppressed dreams, and self dissatisfaction …show more content…
The poems, when put together, exemplify how constant judgement shapes people’s lives. In the poem “Barbie Doll”, the narrator first shares how the students quickly judge their own female classmate, “Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs” (11). The classmates quickly judge the girl from what they perceive on the outside while ignoring her beauty on the inside. Their obstinate and childish minds shield them from seeing past the physical features of her nose and legs. However later in the poem, after the girl dies and her dead body no longer consists of these “flaws”, the bystanders act completely different, “In the casket displayed on satin she lay; with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on/ a turned-up putty nose, dressed in a pink and white nightie/ Doesn’t she look pretty? everyone said” (19-23). The bystanders only judge the living, but begin to pretend to stop judging and start respecting once the child’s life was gone. The poem “Kitchenette Building”, displays societies the judgement too, but in a more subtle way. In “Kitchenette Building”, the characters feel the judgement of society within their daily lives. In the poem, this is exemplified when the narrator states, “We wonder. But not well! Not for a minute” (11). The character in the poem begins to wonder what life could be like, a life where he followed his ambitions. However, he quickly stops wondering, because reality …show more content…
However, humans function each day perfectly fine. It is not science killing society, it is society’s people killing their fellow people. The poems “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy and “Kitchenette Building” by Gwendolyn Brooks demonstrate how society itself limits the potential of its own people. When comparing the two poems together, the central ideas combine and the harsh tone of “Barbie Doll” collides with the soft tone of “Kitchenette Building.” The poems show how stereotypes with women and economics limits society from achieving their full potential. By giving personal perspectives of characters and storylines with imagery and metaphors, it makes you think how discrimination affects all different types of people. Imagine where the world could be if dreams were not suffocated by
“Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy and “ David Talamentez on the Last Day of Second Grade” by Rosemary Catacalos are two poems that show a unique view into society and the roles society expects people to fill. Sometimes those expectations can lead people to take drastic measures or even cause defiance in some people. The irony of this is that it seems the more we push people to be what society wants the more it drives them to be what they don’t want.
In both poem “ Barbie Doll” by Merge Piercy and “ homage to my hips” by Lucille Clifton, they both expressed the different way on how our society wants us, women to look and act in order to be except into the society. Our society condemned any women who are to act differently from our norms. In this society and in every culture aspect they are always stereotype, women always been taking advantage of no matter what century we are on. In “Barbie Doll” the author tend to provide more effective critique of society expectation about our body image than “homage to my hips”.
The readers are apt to feel confused in the contrasting ways the woman in this poem has been depicted. The lady described in the poem leads to contrasting lives during the day and night. She is a normal girl in her Cadillac in the day while in her pink Mustang she is a prostitute driving on highways in the night. In the poem the imagery of body recurs frequently as “moving in the dust” and “every time she is touched”. The reference to woman’s body could possibly be the metaphor for the derogatory ways women’s labor, especially the physical labor is represented. The contrast between day and night possibly highlights the two contrasting ways the women are represented in society.
In the beginning of “Barbie Doll”, pleasurable and unpleasurable imagery is given so that the reader can see the extremes girls go through to be considered perfect.
The treatment of females from the 18th century through the 21st century have only gotten worse due to society’s ignorant judgment of the gender. Of which, is the change from the previous housewife like actions to the modern day body figure. This repulsive transaction is perceived throughout literature. From the 19th century’s short story, “The Story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin in 1894 and the 20th century’s poem, “Barbie Doll” composed by Marge Piercy in 1971.
In Marge Piercy’s, “Barbie Doll,” we see the effect that society has on the expectations of women. A woman, like the girl described in ‘Barbie Doll’, should be perfect. She should know how to cook and clean, but most importantly be attractive according to the impossible stereotypes of womanly beauty. Many women in today’s society are compared to the unrealistic life and form of the doll. The doll, throughout many years, has transformed itself from a popular toy to a role model for actual women. The extremes to which women take this role model are implicated in this short, yet truthful poem.
In the beginning, the “girlchild” being discussed is described as “healthy, tested intelligent,/ possessed strong arms and back,/ abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.” (lines 7-9) Yet throughout the poem, all that is pointed out is her fat nose and thick legs. As the poem progresses, she is told how to improve her flaws, through diet, exercise and acting dumb. By the end the girl commits suicide after exhausting her efforts to conform to society. The final lines show the people attending her funeral discussing how pretty she looks, emphasizing the idea that she finally achieved her “happy ending”. The poem as a whole demonstrates a type of satire called Juvenalian satire, which is a formal version in which the speaker (or writer) attacks the vices and error of society with contempt and indignation. Through Ms. Piercy’s use of description and words choice that implies contempt and sarcasm, the reader is able to identify how society’s standards for women’s looks greatly overshadow other talents and abilities they may have. It is demonstrated that if one is not skinny, and petite with perfect hair and a “turned up...nose” (line 21) then other traits such as intelligence, kindness, and strength are not worth
the poem then progresses to talking about how the baby when it grew up it was “was healthy,tested intelligent possessed strong arms and back … everyone saw a fat nose and fat legs” in this section of the poem we see how marge piercy tries to indicate that although this girl was “healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back” that is not what society saw in her all they saw was “a fat nose and fat legs”. In order for this girl to feel as though she is able to be accepted in the society that she lives in she decided to “cut off her nose and her legs and offered them up…. doesn't she look pretty everyone said consummation at last”. this lastly proves the toll that society continues to have on people especially women the girl in this poem decide to mutilate herself so that she could be accepted into the society where at the end it says that “doesnt she look pretty everyone said consummation at last” this shows the sickness that is society in this
Marge Peircy's "Barbie Doll" and Sharon Olds' "The Death of Marilyn Monroe" are two poems that deal with society's influence over women. However, the two women describe in the story are completely different on the outside, but the inside is much more similar. The female in "Barbie Doll" has no identity and no name, where as the female in "The Death of Marilyn Monore" is the icon Marilyn Monroe. Although these two women remarkably appear to be opposite, they have one thing in common - their own death- and society's opinions, stereotypes, and expectations murdered these two women.
Author, Marge Piercy, introduces us to a young adolescent girl without a care in the world until puberty begins. The cruelty of her friends emerges and ultimately she takes her own life to achieve perfection in “Barbie Dolls” (648). At the time when all children are adjusting to their ever changing bodies, the insults and cruelties of their peers begin and children who were once friends for many years, become strangers over night caught in a world of bullying. A child who is bullied can develop severe depression which can lead to suicide; and although schools have been educated in recognizing the signs of bullying, there is an epidemic that has yet to be fully addressed within our schools or society.
In the poem “Barbie Doll” the speaker take more drastic measures to make herself acceptable to society. In line12 the speaker takes drastic measures to fix herself, “So she cut off her nose and legs.” This action will lead to her death in the end of the poem which would not have happened if her peers did not mock her about the way her nose and legs looked. People are aware of their own imperfections, but when people mock them and do not accept them because of it, that is when the drastic measures of starvation, excessive exercising, and depression can begin. It can happen without the pressures of society, but if society mocks them, it pushes the person further in to a state of
The girls feel that people need to mask their imperfections and true selves to uphold the image of how they are supposed to be. These dolls were found in a less than desirable place, such as “Lying on the street next to some tool bits ,and platform shoes with the heels all squashed, and a florescent green wicker wastebasket, and aluminum foil, and hubcaps, and a pink shag rug, and windshield wiper blades, and dusty mason jars, and a coffee can full of rusty nails”. They find another Barbie with heals in the depths of junk. They cover up the physical flaws of the burnt barbies with pretty outfits such as the “Prom Pinks” dress. One of the girls state “as long as you don't lift her dress, right? - who’s to know.” This attempt to cover up where the dolls came from and their imperfections seem to parallel their feelings about themselves and where they come from. The girls have an image of how their dolls would be if they were new. This could be the role society plays on the image of how women are supposed to be and look
The speaker reflects on the teenage girl’s childhood as she recalls the girl played with “dolls that did pee-pee” (2). This childish description allows the speaker to explain the innocence of the little girl. As a result, the reader immediately feels connected to this cute and innocent young girl. However, the speaker’s diction evolves as the girl grew into a teenager as she proclaims: “She was healthy, tested intelligent, / possessed strong arms and back, / abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity” (7-9). The speaker applies polished language to illustrate the teen. This causes the reader not only to see the girl as an adult, but also to begin to grasp the importance of her situation. The speaker expresses what the bullies told this girl as she explains: “She was advised to play coy, / exhorted to come on hearty” (12-13). The sophisticated diction shifts towards the girl’s oppressors and their cruel demands of her. Because of this, the reader is aware of the extent of the girl’s abuse. The speaker utilizes an intriguing simile as she announces: “Her good nature wore out / like a fan belt” (15-16). The maturity of the speaker’s word choice becomes evident as she uses a simile a young reader would not understand. This keeps the mature reader focused and allows him to fully understand the somberness of this poem. The speaker concludes the poem as she depicts the teenage girl’s appearance at her funeral: “In the casket displayed on satin she lay / with the undertaker’s cosmetics painted on” (19-20). The speaker elects not to describe the dead girl in an unclear and ingenuous manner. Rather, she is very clear and
The narrator is a young girl from a lower class neighborhood, who has difficulty affording new toys and accessories that are a necessity for her reputation around her friend group. In the story, she explains, “So what if our Barbie’s smell like smoke when you hold them up to your nose even after you wash them and wash them and wash them.” (Barbie Q). This quote infers that the narrator is upset with the circumstances she has around getting new dolls, and that she doesn’t care that her toys come reused from a neighborhood market. Throughout the story, the author uses figurative language to describe the way poverty can affect the childhood innocence of the narrator. Even though we can infer that the girl is from a lower class neighborhood, the narrator still explains that she is able to be creative in solving problems from economic difficulty. As the girl is playing with her dolls, she says, “This and a dress invented from an old sock when we cut holes here, here, and here, the cuff rolled over for a glamorous, fancy free, off the shoulder look.” (Barbie Q). From this quote, we can infer that the narrator is from a lower class neighborhood, and is unable to afford new toys, so she improvises by creating her own Barbie fashion. This short story uses figurative language to describe the way childhood innocence is affected through socioeconomic
Those perfect days as a child when your countless days were filled with playtime. The time to set up those houses and dress the dolls up, and act out the future. “Through their play Barbara imagined their lives as adults. They used the dolls to reflect the adult world around them. They would sit and carry on conversations, making the dolls real people” (Ruth Handler). As a young child, it is all you look forward to in your future: being successful and confident, loved and cherished. Many dolls were used to project this. Specifically, the Barbie. Barbie is a positive role model girl should look up to for confidence and inspiration. She is a talented and educated career woman, self-sufficient in every aspect of her life, and a stunning example to young girls the body that is healthy and fit.