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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Or is it in the eye of society and its standards? Could this beholder be blindsided by society? These questions will raise millions of answers because no one seems to know the true answer, but then again is there really a wrong answer? Everyone seems to have different or similar opinions but do their judgement come from what they see or what they are told beauty should be. Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” begins with the birth of a baby girl and she is presented with all the “normal female” toys. When she hits puberty a classmate comments that she has “ a big nose and fat legs.” She was a perfectly healthy, smart, and strong girl, but her classmates only saw her physical features that the other classmate pointed
In The Barbie Doll, the author writes about a girl' s life. The author starts off by describing her childhood. She was given dolls and toys like any other girl and she also wore hints of lipstick. This girl was healthy and rather intelligent. Even though she had possessed many good traits she was still looked at by others as "the girl with a big nose and fat legs". She exercised, dieted and smiled as much as possible to please those around her. She became tired of pleasing everyone else and decided to commit suicide. During her funeral those who she had tried to please in the past were the ones to comment about how beautiful she looked. Finally she had received the praise she was longing for.
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.
For starters the title, “Barbie Doll” holds a meaning. It symbolizes the ideal figure of a female body. Society creates this ideal that is embed into every century. It is never ending. It is intended that she must have the twig like arms and legs, the minuscule waist and nose,
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.
“If Barbie was designed by a man, suddenly a lot of things made sense to me,” says Emily Prager in her essay “Our Barbies, Ourselves” (Prager 354). Prager’s purpose for writing this essay is to explain the history of Barbie and how the doll itself has influenced and continue to influence our society today. Prager is appealing to the average girl, to those who can relate to the way she felt growing up with Barbie seen as the ideal woman. Emily Prager uses a constant shift between a formal and informal tone to effectively communicate her ideas that we view women today based upon the unrealistic expectations set forth by Barbie. By adopting this strategy she avoids making readers feel attacked and therefore
Since Barbie’s debut in 1959 she has been influencing young girls and swaying their perceptions of beauty when in reality her body, measuring 39-18-33 (bust, waist, hips) is unable to bear a child, she would be incapable of holding up her own back and neck and she is so disproportioned she would need to crawl on all fours (Slayen). Despite popular belief, maybe it is beginning to seem as if Barbie is not so perfect after all. However that has not stopped young girls from admiring their Barbie Dolls perfection, and in ...
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 poem, Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy, leads us to believe that the poem is about a beautiful girl, one that looks like a Barbie that is sold in stores. It does not turn out to be a beautiful girl but about a teenage girl that’s been judged her entire life and is now compared to a perfect being, like Barbie. The poem is an unraveling tail of a beautiful, intelligent girl trying to satisfy everybody’s unrealistic standards of what she should be. The speaker starts the poem announcing the birth of a “girl child”, never using her actual name in the poem. When she was young, she was viewed differently because she had a different kind of doll than other children did in her class. When she grew into her teen years, her classmates started judging her because she had a big nose and thick legs and that she was not a beautiful, slim figure that everyone loves. Soon, everyone around her had this comparison toward her and in unrealistic body, never noticing her true beauty. Barbie was viewed as a blond, beautiful, and perfect girl and that is how they wanted the “girl child” to look. These standards are very hard for a typical person to meet.
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 poem, "Barbie Doll" by Marge Piercy is about how a young woman’s closest companion the ‘Barbie’ could likewise be the motivation behind why some young women have low self-regards. When a young woman plays with Barbie, she envisions all that she can become. During the adolescent years, some girls start to feel as if they‘re not good enough to be included in society. Women face constant pressure from media, peers and family to live up to their superficial expectation of resembling the perfect ‘Barbie Doll’. In my opinion, dolls should be age suitable and distinctive as related to a girl’s personality and body type.
In today’s society, girls are pressured and influenced to achieve the perfect body image. Society tends to express more acceptance on skinny thighs, tan skin, and big breasts. Too much time and energy is being put into the physical appearances and not enough on self-esteem and inner beauty. In Margie Piercy’s poem, “Barbie Doll,” this is exemplified through the poet’s attitude on how the implication of words can destroy a girl’s self-confidence. Although girls have other positive traits, their feminine abilities and appearances are usually treated as more important.
Piercy, Marge. "Barbie doll." Portable Legacies. Ed. Jan Zlotnik Schmidth and Lynne Crockette. Boston: Wadsworth, 2013. 589. Print.
Symbolism can be a difficult concept for many students to grasp. It is necessary to use “thought and feeling” when analyzing symbolic literature, rather than logic (Wellborn 89). The poem “Barbie Doll” is no exception. Marge Piercy uses the Barbie doll and girlchild as symbols for social standards and sexism.
In Marge Piercy’s, “Barbie Doll” she reveals a trend that is rampant in today’s society. In this poem she allows the reader to have insight to how societies expectations demolish self-worth by comparing oneself to unrealistic expectations. She creates a sense many young women, especially at the coming of age experience: the feeling of not fitting in. In the poem, Piercy implements the use of diction, imagery/symbolism and tone, which exposes the destructive nature of societies expectations placed upon young women.
In today’s society, girls and boys are constantly being shown different messages about the ways that they should look and act. One example of these messages, which I feel is most important to look at and understand, is Barbie and the impact that has been made on our society since this doll was developed many years ago. Since Barbie’s creation, there has been controversy over the whether or not this doll impacts women’s body image. Some will argue that Barbie is just a doll and that she does not have a negative influence on the way females view their bodies. Others will argue this topic and say that Barbie plays a huge role in the negative views that females have about their body image.