Marge Piercy’s Barbie Doll

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Every woman grows up knowing that they one day want to be beautiful. In Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” she gives an in depth look at what negative effects the concept of beauty can have on an individual. From infancy to a full grown adult woman, beauty has been a way of thinking and lifestyle. As a little girl you are given petite shaped, blonde, blue eyed dolls. While boys are given brawny soldiers and mechanical toys.

What do little girls do with these dolls? They put on fresh makeup, change there fashionable clothing, and style there long luscious hair. This alone is creating a psychological change in a little girls brain, it is instilling that this is what is customary for a girl to do. Rather than fixing things you are to play princess, along with your easy bake oven. For centuries society has quietly driven a complex into the hearts and minds of young girls, that you have to be pretty to succeed. In our time today you rarely see unattractive; politicians, movie stars, musicians, officials or entertainers. Anybody who is somebody these days has attractive physical qualities.

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...

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...lier age. Where can we draw the line, and say your beautiful any way you are. People deal with eating disorders and depression as a result of being out casted, not one of the beautiful people. There have been multiple cases of death due to starvation and malnourishment, these people paid the price of beauty with their lives. There is harm being done daily by the ad’s that you see on television and the people that are said to be “role models” in the entertainment industry. Do we want our children growing up in a world based on insecurities and twisted self perception? I for one believe that beauty is an action, it is a way of attitude and kind nature. There are many ways to be beautiful in this world without the need of a cream, or surgery. There is no need to have the statuesque build of a Barbie to be beautiful, in a world where you can be anything, be yourself.

Analysis Of Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll
1681 Words | 4 Pages
In a world where many are led to believe that they fall short of what society depicts as “perfect”, it is still true that everyone is beautiful in their own way. There are even more demands on girls now a days than there has ever been before. Some may think they need to fit in, so they become someone they are not or they begin to act like a totally different person. “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy, illustrates society’s high and unrealistic expectations on the physical appearance of women, while failing to see that a woman’s self-esteem is at risk of being diminished.
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Marge Piercy’s Barbie Doll
604 Words | 2 Pages
The poem starts with the line, “This girlchild was born as usual,” which suggests that as soon as a girl is born, society already expects her to learn the role she will soon play in when she hits puberty (1). Thus, showing why we are given dolls as little girls to illustrate how we should act and appear according to society. After we learn all the roles we will soon take part in, “the magic of puberty,” hits and girls immediately begin applying the ideals to their own lives (5). As if this attempt to conform is not enough we have other people telling us we are not to perfect. “You have a great big nose and fat legs,” says a classmate to the girl (6). This type of pressure can slowly but surely destroy even the little confidence women do have in themselves.
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Rhetorical Analysis Of Our Barbies Ourselves By Prager
580 Words | 2 Pages
“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
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Analysis Of Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll
1880 Words | 4 Pages
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.
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Perfection In Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll
192 Words | 1 Pages
In the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy, a young girl is bullied for not achieving physical perfection. The title itself is an icon of perfection, it gives the reader an idea of the standard the girl is held to. Barbie dolls are modeled to be tall, thin, colored eyes, with a symmetrically beautiful faces the icon of perfection. The speaker states, “Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs,” (Piercy 7). Here the young girl is objectified into body parts. She becomes her flaws and is no longer seen as a person. Even though the speaker states “She was healthy, tested intelligent, / possessed strong arms and back,” (Piercy 7-8), everyone focuses on her flaws and ignore all the good aspects to her. The speaker goes on to state, “She was advised to
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Busting Barbie
715 Words | 2 Pages
Imagine being a 5 year old girl playing with baby dolls and brushing your Barbie doll’s hair and feeling fat. A 5 year old feeling fat sounds crazy, right? Well with the influence Barbie has had for years is causing girls younger and younger to feel that their body is not “perfect”. Eating disorders, unrealistic expectations, and self-confidence are all at jeopardy once a young girl is rewarded with her first Barbie doll.
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Language And Diction In Barbie Doll, By Marge Piercy
1096 Words | 3 Pages
In “Barbie Doll,” by Marge Piercy, the speaker’s tone is remorsefully cautionary because she aims to protect females from the societal standards that caused the female subject of the poem to commit suicide. Early in the poem, the speaker illustrates the teen prior to her death: “She was healthy, tested intelligent, / possessed strong arms and back, / abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity” (7-9). Clearly, the girl had the potential to be very successful, as a result of her many natural gifts. However, she was constantly harassed and nagged because she had a “great big nose and fat legs” (6). Even though she had all the attributes of a very successful woman, she was still abused by her fellow classmates because she did not uphold the societal
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To every woman a happy ending
816 Words | 2 Pages
In the poem Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy, Piercy use the theme to point out the mold of women of the time and to try and break the mold, and use images to drive the point home. When the poem was published in the early 1970’s the second wave of feminism was going on to bring about change on how society viewed women. The poem sought to show how trying to fit someone (especially women) into a one specific mold can lead to emotional despair and death. The images Piercy uses help emphasis the mold of theme and to bring about emotion as the girl is pushed to her limits and dies. Even though this poem was written back in the 1970’s, it still has ramifications in today’s society. As society gets more and more into looks and the perfect image of men and women, many might be driving to extreme lengths to finally find their happy ending.
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Marge Piercy's Poem, Barbie Doll
157 Words | 1 Pages
Marge Piercy's poem, "Barbie Doll," takes an interesting view on women and society. The poem describes a female child, who is born and given a Barbie doll. When the girl progresses through puberty, someone denotes that she has a big nose and fat legs. Although she is an astounding and resilient woman in every way, society only sees her physical imperfections. As she matures, she attempts to achieve everything possible to change and be the woman everyone wants her to be.
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Gender Insanity in Barbie Doll, Ken Doll, and The Yellow Wallpaper
637 Words | 2 Pages
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...
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Irony And Symbolism In Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll
655 Words | 2 Pages
Marge Piercy is a poet and feminist that participated in New Left and Student for a Democratic Society. Piercy’s poem, “Barbie Doll,” explains society’s expectations for women. When the girl in the poem gives into her peers pressure to look and act a certain way, the poem's theme is shown; when a person acts how society wants them too, they are killing themselves. The poet, Marge Piercy, shows this theme throughout the poem by using poetic terms such as; irony, simile, and symbolism. Piercy shows how a person kills themselves when a person acts how society expects them to through irony.
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Work Of Artifice Analysis
822 Words | 2 Pages
Throughout literature, authors portray images of women. One of the reoccurring images is physical appearance. Society forces women to conform to their perfect ideal: beautiful, domesticated, weak, and inferior to man. This portrayal is prevalent throughout many works of literature, including pieces such as “A Work of Artifice,” “Barbie G,” and “Pathedy of Manners.” Their portrayal of women demonstrates this unfair standard of women and the over exaggerated value placed upon physical appearance.
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660 Words | 2 Pages
Since 1959, Barbie’s lifestyle has served as a template of how young girls should live the remainder of their life. Certainly, Barbie is just a plastic doll, but she stands a plastic queen. Consequently, Young girls obliviously see her as an idol, and every doll that was made after Barbie is a carbon copy of her. Being that Barbie’s image remains impossible to acquire, some mothers do not allow their children to play with her; they do not want their “baby girls” thinking they are not good enough. Barbie has influenced young girls into thinking that the only way to be perfect is to grow up striving to be just like the blonde hair, blue eyed white woman with the perfect body figure.
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984 Words | 2 Pages
The Poem “Barbie Doll (1969)” by Marge Piercy describes the life of a young girl who fell victim to society’s idea of beauty. Marge Piercy was a known social activist and uses this poem to bring attention to serious issues facing young females in society.
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Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll
1600 Words | 4 Pages
Published in 1971, the poem Barbie Doll was wrote by Marge Piercy during a time of feminist movements. As stated in the journal Womans Values In Society As Reflected In Marge Piercy’s “Barbie doll”, “1960s is the key year of the revival of the feminist movement in America which is known as the second wave of feminism” (Padmanugraha 5). During these times the main concerns for women were over their sexuality, work and family. Elizabeth Boyd, in Romancing feminism: From women’s studies to women’s fiction tackles the topic of feminism expressing:
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Marge Piercy’s Barbie Doll

Analysis Of Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll