“Barbie Doll” for “Sadie and Maud”
Sexual discrimination in different time periods and on too many continents has always affected women terribly. Women live and modify themselves to keep up to the expectations of society. Whether they decide to follow society’s ideas or not, many of them still have an unhappy ending. Two poems which demonstrate the repercussions of this type of stereotyping and discrimination are Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” and Gwendolyn Brooks’ “Sadie and Maud.” The story of Sadie and Maud proves that impossible standards that are set for women whether they follow the stereotypes or not will eventually be shunned and looked down upon like Sadie, or become alone and unhappy like Maud. Piercy’s work demonstrates how females
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give up who they are in order to meet the unrealistic and ridiculous societal expectations for beauty. The two poems share several poetic devices such as metaphor, irony, and contempt to depict the way society expects from women and how women modify themselves to meet these expectations. Sadie is mentioned first in the title “ Sadie and Maud”; however, Brooks begins the poem with “Maud went to college” (line 1). Maud is the sister who goes to college to get education to meet society’s expectations. In contrast, Sadie is the other sister who does not go to college, “Maud stayed at home” (line 2). Maud lives like a princess, she breaks all the rules and standards that are set for women to follow by the society. “Sadie bore two babies” (line 9) out of wedlock which has been frowned upon for every woman in the society for generations. Sadie again ruins the gender stereotype, which is having two babies without a husband consequently making her sister and her parents “Nearly died of shamed” (line 12). In spite of being shunned by her family and being looked down upon by society, Sadie is “the livingest chits” (line 7) in town, she scrapes her life with “a fine-tooth comb” (line 4). “She didn’t leave a tangle in / Her comb found every strand,” (line 5-6) depicts Sadie enjoys every single minute of her life demonstrating that she does not concern herself with following what society expects from her. She is going against society’s expectation so she can be truly happy with her life. Brooks concludes talking about Sadie by saying how Sadie’s two babies receive a “fine-tooth comb” (line 16), which is a meaning gift of vitality from her. This implies that Sadie’s children will have a full life as their mother life did, rather than conforming to the restriction of society. In the last stanza, Maud who goes to college and follows society expectations is mentioned again but is described as being meek and mousey. The culture has imposed extremely rigid sexuality rules that must be obeyed, and Maud follows these throughout her life. However, at the end of the poem it is emphasized that, “Maud, who went to college, / is a thin brown mouse / she is living all alone / in this old house” (line 16-18). Maud is a vivid example of illusions that come with the misconception that obeying the expectations and socially molded inducements does not equal to happiness. Socially constructed ideas suggest that women listen to their parents, go to college to get knowledge, and stay within cultural codes they will probably be end up happy. Maud complies with all the expectations and ultimately lives solitarily in the “old house” (line 20). Sadie and Maud represent the double bind situation that exists with women in all cultures. Maud obeys all the expectation but ends up solitary. Sadie who is satisfied and happy with her choices and style of living is despised and scorned by her own family and society. Society not only sets lifestyle and moral expectations but also dictates standards of appearance and acceptable dress therefore defining what beauty should be.
Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” is an ironic poem about society’s expectations for female appearance. The poem starts with an unnamed “girlchild” that comes into a world as things exist as normal for female children. Girls are expected to play with “dolls,” “stove,” “irons,” and “lipsticks” (line2-4) which sets what their interests and behavior should be. Everything is as usual until “the magic of puberty” (line 5) when “girlchild” transforms from a girl to a woman. “The magic of puberty” (line 5) is also seemingly endless drama in her life when her classmate says to her, “You have a great big nose and fat legs” (line 6). Her whole beautiful life seems to collapse. The young woman becomes so obsessed with her imperfection that she ignores her positive qualities. Although she is “healthy, tested intelligent / possess strong arm and back,” (line 7-8) she is so overly preoccupied with her appearance that these good qualities seem not to have any value. Consequently, she only sees her “big nose and fat legs” (line 6) and believes she has no value because of them. She goes “to and fro apologizing” (line 10) for how she looks. She is mentally tortured by others; therefore, she feels insecure. She is “advised to play coy / exhorted to come on hearty / exercise, diet, smile, and wheedle” (line 12-14). Eventually, she becomes exhausted from her effort, she wears out like “a fan belt” (line 16). She is unable to please others whom want to her to give up herself and be someone else. She is unable to cope; therefore, she chooses to commit suicide in order to escape from this ruthless world. When this “girlchild” lies in the casket with “cosmetic painted on,” (line 20) everyone is eventually satisfied saying, “Doesn’t she look pretty?” (Line 24) it is too late for the “girlchild” to hear their compliments. This young lady has
given her life to achieve cosmetic beauty and to be called that she is attractive as a “Barbie doll” by saying “Consummation at last” (line 24). Piercy not only condemns the ridiculous standard of beauty that society molded for women but also suggests that the “happy ending” is unavoidable to every woman who is willing to give up herself to meet the unrealistic beauty standard made by society. Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” and Brooks’ “Sadie and Maud” use contempt and irony to show how women are molded and exhorted to give up themselves to meet the society’s expectations. The moral of both poems functions as a warning: they urges reader to be aware of the ways in which society shapes female identities, they also urge women not give up themselves or modify themselves to meet society’s expectations, last but not least they urge women to recognize fallacies in life and not to let the ridiculous rules dictate how they live. These poems scream out cloud that women should rise above the illusive expectations and live their lives wisely and be happy with their decisions without being dictated about how they should live by others.
When the narrator first compares her Barbies, she thinks that she needs perfect and new Barbies to fit in with everybody else. The narrator does understand that her family does not have money, but she simply works around it. Although, she wants more Barbies it was unlikely for them to get them. The narrator says, “Because we don’t have money for a stupid-looking boy doll when we’d both rather ask for a new Barbie outfit next christmas. (14-15)” The narrator has to make do with what she has. She can not have a boy Barbie because it is not in her parents budget. This affects her and it makes her lose confidence in herself because she does not have what everybody else has. After the narrator receives her partially messed up Barbies, she says, “And if the prettiest doll, Barbie’s MOD’ern cousin Francie with real eyelashes, eyelash brush included, has a left that that’s melted a little-so? If you dress her in her new ‘Prom Pinks’ outfit, satin splendor with matching coat, gold belt, clutch, and hair bow included, so long as you don’t lift her dress, right?-who’s to know. (16)” Even though the Barbie has a melted left foot, the narrator moves past this. She will just cover it up with a dress. The narrator wanted new and perfect Barbie’s in the beginning, but she realized that these Barbie’s are not everything and she can make them her own. She is not defined by her Barbies. Sandra Cisneros used symbolism and characterization to describe how the narrator had a hard time coming into her own identity and finding
“Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy and “ David Talamentez on the Last Day of Second Grade” by Rosemary Catacalos are two poems that show a unique view into society and the roles society expects people to fill. Sometimes those expectations can lead people to take drastic measures or even cause defiance in some people. The irony of this is that it seems the more we push people to be what society wants the more it drives them to be what they don’t want.
In both poem “ Barbie Doll” by Merge Piercy and “ homage to my hips” by Lucille Clifton, they both expressed the different way on how our society wants us, women to look and act in order to be except into the society. Our society condemned any women who are to act differently from our norms. In this society and in every culture aspect they are always stereotype, women always been taking advantage of no matter what century we are on. In “Barbie Doll” the author tend to provide more effective critique of society expectation about our body image than “homage to my hips”.
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 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
Throughout a collection of Gwen Harwood’s poems is the exploration of women during the 1950’s-90’s and their roles in society as it evolved in its acceptance of allowing a woman equal say in her identity. (struggling to end this essay)
The treatment of females from the 18th century through the 21st century have only gotten worse due to society’s ignorant judgment of the gender. Of which, is the change from the previous housewife like actions to the modern day body figure. This repulsive transaction is perceived throughout literature. From the 19th century’s short story, “The Story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin in 1894 and the 20th century’s poem, “Barbie Doll” composed by Marge Piercy in 1971.
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...
The little girls wanting Barbies with perfect outfits goes with the “ideal” image a girl should have at a young age. They are influenced by society to like playing with Barbies, to like the colour pink, to basically become a girl in society’s point of view. Cisneros is showing the development of children and how they’re made to play their roles in society. The author is trying to show how girls don’t really have a choice in how they’re guided towards liking “girl things”. The story shows the reality of women and how their opportunities are limited by things that are out of control like being born into poverty and have to live below an average lifestyle, “So what if our Barbies smell like smoke when you hold them up to your nose even after you wash and wash and wash them” (Cisneros, 1991, p.448). This pertains to the inequality in the work place, government, how some women are limited because of their gender and are prevented from becoming a successful
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.
Hippie Barbie, written by Denise Duhamel uses the symbols of the contemporary life of the fairy-tale lifestyle into reality. The words and ideas used in this narrative poem give fantasy a different perspective. It is inferred that the speaker is a female Barbie specialist, who reflects her knowledge by using the popular Barbie doll as the main character. Throughout the poem, she gives key points that have female perspective; for instance, kissing Ken, thinking about having mixed-race children, and walking a poodle. She establishes a story-telling tone, which introduces Hippie Barbie as a real woman. The speaker is trying to address to all Americans that know deeper into Barbie doll life. By using the word “hippie” she gives a sense of rejection, opposition and liberalism towards things. Hippie Barbie reveals the ugly truth about the society based on appearances that we live in.
The girls feel that people need to mask their imperfections and true selves to uphold the image of how they are supposed to be. These dolls were found in a less than desirable place, such as “Lying on the street next to some tool bits ,and platform shoes with the heels all squashed, and a florescent green wicker wastebasket, and aluminum foil, and hubcaps, and a pink shag rug, and windshield wiper blades, and dusty mason jars, and a coffee can full of rusty nails”. They find another Barbie with heals in the depths of junk. They cover up the physical flaws of the burnt barbies with pretty outfits such as the “Prom Pinks” dress. One of the girls state “as long as you don't lift her dress, right? - who’s to know.” This attempt to cover up where the dolls came from and their imperfections seem to parallel their feelings about themselves and where they come from. The girls have an image of how their dolls would be if they were new. This could be the role society plays on the image of how women are supposed to be and look
The poem Barbie Doll was both written and published in 1971. During this time, which was shortly after Barbie dolls became popular, a plethora of attention was being directed towards the appearance of women, both old and young. Society now had a perception of what it believes should be considered beautiful or attractive in a woman. This could have easily caused many women, no matter the age, to feel self- conscious, much like the young girl in the poem. The Chimney Sweeper was written in an entirely different time period. It was published in 1789, one-hundred and eighty-two years before Barbie Doll. At this time, a situation like the one described in this poem was not at all uncommon. This was due to the fact that child labor laws had not yet been established in many parts of the world. Many young children were forced to partake in jobs with atrocious working conditions and menial pay. The difference in the time periods of these two poems are crucial, as it severely alters the upbringing of the characters, their social projection, their self-image, and the types of problems that they
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.
“Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.