FREE ESSAY ON BARBIE DOLL BY MARGE PIERCY

BARBIE DOLL BY MARGE PIERCY

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, then takes a turn
towards a more bold statement. The author uses the magic of puberty to describe the age
where appearance comes into effect. It's ironic that this particular word is used because
puberty is actually a stage of emotional crisis'. A hurtful remark was made towards the
child, and she was described as having a big nose and fat legs. 
The second stanza also begins with the subdued tone mentioning the girls positive
aspects, such as being healthy...intelligent...strong. These specific details are usually
related to the male. Once again, the gender characteristics play as an underlying factor.
These qualities were not good enough for a woman if they were not beautiful. The stanza
then takes a turn like the first turning away from the simplicity. The girl went to and
fro apologizing, while everyone still saw a fat nose on thick legs. Society places women
into the mold where they begin to put on a facade and apologize for their misfortunes.
In the third stanza, the girl was advised to play coy...(and) smile. Women are once again
pressured to act in a way that is unreal, like a barbie doll. The fan belt mention in
this stanza is used as imagery to describe how one's facade can wear out over time, as
hers did. She cut off her nose and her legs, in response to this. The character Nora in A
Doll's House, is a perfect example of how women are like dolls and do what they are told
or what society expects of them. 
It is only in the last stanza where the girl is dead and has consummation at last. She is
finally given a compliment when someone said, doesn't she look pretty? The undertaker was
able to use make-up to cover the pain and suffering this child went through, and placed
her into the mold of a barbie doll with a putty nose and dressed in a pink and white
nightie. These two colors are associated with girls' and Barbies. She finally was able to
fit into the girl camouflage.
Through the teenage years, beauty seems to be a determinant for popularity and some
success, which is important to young girls during middle school and high school. At an
early age, remarks made about one's appearances can damage an adolescent's personality
and self-esteem. In this particular case, it was deathly for this child, as it is for
some. The author was able to accomplish this theme through her tone and imagery, while
using colors and items associated with girls. The societies within America usually
describe someone as beautiful if they are thin and have the perfect body, such as a
barbie doll in this poem.