Beauty In Marge Piercy's Poem Barbie Doll

In this poem “Barbie Doll” Marge Piercy expresses the deep dark secrets of what it is like for girls growing up in this society where beauty becomes the center of everything. This poem conveys the effect that society has on young girls and the major role it plays in the unrealistic images of beauty. The title of this poem “Barbie Doll” explains it all. Marge Piercy uses this image as a symbol of how the world looks at what represents perfection among women and their personal appearance. The poet addresses the brutal reality that society has upheld Barbie as a figure for all girls to aspire to look like. It also addresses the struggles that girls go through and the self esteem issues that they face through out there lives. The appearance that has been presented with the Barbie doll causes many girls to fail to achieve that specific appearance leading them down a path of unhealthy living. In the first stanza Piercy goes on to talk about the stereotypical expectations that are placed on a girl from birth to adolescent and well onto adulthood. This part of the poem is a look into how most normal young girls are raised and the influences that are pushed onto them as they grow up. They are raised and “presented dolls that did pee-pee / and miniature GE stoves and irons / and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.”with this

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