"Motherhood is bliss." "Your first priority is to care for your husband and children." "Homemaking can be exciting and fulfilling” (Modern Feminism internet). This was some of the advice women would hear among society. This was what society believed women were good for. Modern day feminist poets, like Marge Piercy focuses on women. “Her novels and poetry often focus on feminist or social concerns, although her settings vary” (Marge internet). Her poem “Barbie Doll” is an example of her showing her feminist writing. In the poem “Barbie Doll” , Margie Piercy writes about a girl who is shamed by society because of her looks; the poem tells the life of the girl from her youth to adulthood, in the midst of her transitioning to becoming a young lady she will become a victim of society’s word and not be beautiful until she is dead from all mutilation done to her skin.
This girlchild was born as usual and presented dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves and irons and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.
The in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:
You have a great big nose and fat legs. (Lines 1-6) In the first stanza,
In lines ten through eleven however, the reader learns that this is still not good enough. The gift of being healthy, having brains, being strong, and maintaining a wonderful sex drive is not enough for society. Society does not want this, she is still at fault. The girl still has a fat nose and thick legs. Her fat nose and thick legs was the only thing that society saw. She is left to apologize for this because it is nobodys fault, but hers. It is the girlchilds fault for not having te external beauty that her classmate and peers are looking for so she has no choice, but to apologize for not meeting their
“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.
Marge Piercy wrote the Barbie Doll poem in 1973, during the woman’s movement. The title of the poem Barbie Doll, symbolizes how females are supposed to appear into the society. In the poem Barbie Doll, the main character was a girl. She was described as a usual child when she was born. Meaning that she had normal features that any person could ever have. Piercy used “wee lipstick the color of cherry candy” as a smile to describe the child before she has hit puberty. After the character hit puberty, the classmates in her class began to tease her saying “you have a big nose and fat legs.” (Piercy pg. 1) Having a big nose and a fat leg is the opposite of what females are supposed to be presented as in the gender stereotype. In the society that the girl lives in, follows the gender stereotypes that presented females as a petite figure with a slender body. These expectations made the character go insane. She wanted to fit into the society so she “cut off her nose and legs and offered them up.” (Piercy pg. 1) Even though the girl was “healthy, tested intelligent…” (Piercy pg. 1) no one saw that in her, but her appearances. In the end of the poem the girl end up dying, a...
In the second stanza, Piercy describes the girl as healthy, intelligent, and strong (7-8). Yet these positive equalities alone, could not keep people from criticizing her, so the girl feels inferior. “She went to and fro apologizing,” which demonstrates her collapse of confidence with the people she is surrounded with, who kept putting her down (10). She gives in to the hurtful things people say about her: “Everyone [kept] seeing a fat nose on thick legs” (11). The girl thus lets people push her in the direction of society’s standard of beauty, instead of affirming her own unique beauty.
Throughout history women have been portrayed as inferior to men in all ages. However women have transcended from being too inferior to men to actually being portrayed as naive in the sense that women only care about their beauty since that is the only thing that society cares about now. This has now spread to age in society where now women are portrayed by the media as sex symbols so that could be enticing to society. In the “Fat Girl” by andre dubus the main charcter Louise is pressured by her family members espically her mother to lose weight so that she can fit into societies portrayal of women.In the poem “the barbie doll” by margie piercy the female charcter is forced to correct her body images in order to fit with that of which society
In Marge Piercy’s poem she states “ She was healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back, abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.” If a young lady possesses all of these things then why would she not feel that she was up to par? How could intelligence and capability not be enough for this girl who was obviously a well rounded individual? The idea of what her classmate thought about her appearance caused feelings of inferiority, because in our society everything truly seems to surround physical beauty. When you are beautiful you have more opportunities, you receive more attention, and it is suggested that you live a better life. Thi...
Students are often required to submit essays throughout the school year, however, many are not able to write an effective essay. After extensively reading and analyzing This I Believe narratives, I came across many essays that are great examples for students to use as a template for effective writing. One essay that stood out amongst the rest was, “A Grown-Up Barbie” by Jane Hamill; I recommend this short narrative for students that strive to achieve an effective essay because it provides useful rhetorical devices such as: anecdote, imagery and diction.
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.
The girl is healthy, intelligent, and strong. However, society can not see past her physical imperfection and see her inner perfection. The preconception that outer beauty reflects the inner beauty, was society cursing her. Society tells her to "play coy" and "exercise, diet, smile and wheedle" . She hears and interprets it to mean that she is nothing but a "fat nose on thick legs".
To achieve this body, women will starve themselves or eat way below the accepted calorie count. Women will do anything to achieve the body they see so many models have. This is exhibited in the poem, Barbie Doll. In this poem, Marge Piercy uses a Barbie doll to convey the hardships women go through to achieve a body that they like. For example, “So she cut off her nose and legs and offered them up” (Piercy). Figuratively speaking, it can be inferred that since Barbie was not satisfied with her appearance, she sought out methods to change them. Barbie wanted to fit in and since everyone was making fun of her appearance, she decided that the only solution is to change what other people make fun of her about, to something that they would like. This shows that Barbie wanted to look like what everyone liked so bad that she would to go as far as to cut off her own nose and
The time of a girls life where physical changes begin to happen, a time in which a child grows up to be a women. The comment “You have a great big nose and fat legs.” brings forth a sense of sadness and insecurities for the girlchild. It shows the realism of the expectation that is placed on society's norm causes the world to conform to its standards of what it beautiful and what is not. What lies with in this comment is the main issue that is addressed in Marge Piercy's poem. The critical judgment of those around are brought on by today’s social
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 poem, "Barbie Doll," written by Marge Piercy tells the story of a young girl growing up through the adolescence stage characterized by appearances and barbarity. The author uses imagery and fluctuating tone to describe the struggles the girl is experiencing during her teenage years, and the affects that can happen. The title of this poem is a good description of how most societies expect others, especially girls to look. Constantly, people are mocked for their appearance and expected to represent a "barbie-doll"-like figure. Few are "blessed" with this description. The female gender is positioned into the stereotype that women should be thin and beautiful. With this girl, the effects were detrimental. The first stanza describes the influence that a child is placed into during early childhood. Girls are expected to play with "dolls" and "stoves and irons," the usual toys that relate to the old-fashioned duties of women. A young girl begins to learn what she should be for society and not to deviate from the norm. The tone used in this stanza is quite silent and simplistic at first,...
In such a cruel society young woman tend to feel pressured with keeping up a perfect image or appeal just to please everyone around them. The speaker in this poem is third person, the audience is very clear focusing on society and parents raising young girls. The overall theme is how society has a standard of how pretty someone is. It causes woman to feel pressured into looking and acting a certain way. A “girl child” is born and once she hits puberty, she is humiliated for what other people point out and see as her flaws. Soon she tired of trying so hard to be what she was not. She eventually got what she wanted which was to look pretty, though it cost her own life. In this eye opening poem “Barbie Doll”, Marge Piercy gives a great representation of how society’s view affects a young woman’s self-image using similes, gruesome symbols, and strong irony.
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.
When I was very young, I owned very many Barbie dolls. To me, they were just so beautiful, and flawless, and I loved them very much. But the Barbie that said the most to me was the President Barbie. This spoke to me. It said that anyone, anywhere, of any gender, socioeconomic status, background, sexuality, ethnicity, race, or belief system could be anything they ever wanted to be, as long as they worked hard enough to achieve it. And this is a very important message, and it is a message that Barbie sends to people every day, all over the world.