Compare Hanging Fire And Barbie Doll

People who have strived for achieving acceptance or beauty so that society could accept them. This strive though has come at a cost and led people to drastic measures such as depression, self-harm, or serious health issues like starvation or excessive exercising. In the two poems “Hanging Fire” and “Barbie Doll”, the two teenagers struggle with acceptance and both struggle trying to gain them. In a teenager age, they are more vulnerable as they are trying to figure out who they are as a person, leaving them in a fragile state. Throughout their life, they will be peer pressured by friends, classmates, and family who try to point out what is wrong with them and what should be fixed even though normally everything is fine. It is the constant need

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

In lines 1 and 7 she was fine before she was mocked in her teenage years, “This girlchild was born as usual” and “She was healthy, tested intelligent”. Piercy shows the readers that before she was told of her imperfections, that she was a completely healthy and normal girl. She could have lived long pasted her teenage years, but with society telling her that her nose and legs were not considered perfect, she cut them off and died. Though Piercy did exaggerate the action, young teenagers and young adults have actions that leads to death. Some people starve, excessive exercise, Botox injections, plastic surgery, or even take pills to lose weight. These actions cost the lives of girls and boys all over the world and as society grows with more ways to bring out the negativity in a person’s body image, society should try to bring out positivity and confidence in everyone. In the poem “Hanging Fire” the speaker looks back at the choices she has made throughout her high school life and questions many aspects of her life. She questioned certain imperfection of beauty she had to deal with even though they are completely common in many teenagers. The reader can see the speaker questioning her beauty in lines 6-7 and 28-30 “How come my knees are //always so ashy?” and “Why do I have to be// the one //wearing braces”. Though these imperfections are normal for a teenager, society has made many