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Reflection on gender bias
Essay analysis on barbie doll by marge piercy
Essay analysis on barbie doll by marge piercy
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Recommended: Reflection on gender bias
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 order to understand the poem we need to understand the author’s background and their work focus. Marge Piercy was born in Michigan, she was the first person in her family
“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 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
“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
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.
The speaker is trying to address 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 the appearances that we live in. Using personification as her strongest tool, she uses Barbie to establish a somewhat comic parallel world with real women. The author introduces her poem with; “Barbie couldn’t grasp the concept of free love.
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.
The poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy has such a deep message that will instantly pull the heartstrings of many individuals within the world upon reading. Each and every person standing on the planet has had a moment in their life when they do not feel as if they can meet anyone 's standards. They also feel as if they are too fat and ugly to fit it to today’s society. We all have been told some very hurtful words in our lives, some that stick for longer than others, within the creases of our fragile brain. We continuously tell ourselves that it 's going to be okay at the end of the day but the real question is, will it real be okay? When initially looking at the title, one may come to the conclusion that the poem is
Marge Piercy wrote Barbie Doll in 1973. The main message the poet is sending is that girls would go to any length to be viewed as “pretty” by society. At times the poet was very sarcastic and uses irony to get the theme across to the reader. Other elements of poetry are used as well to help the audience understand the poem.
...Barbie Doll” by Marge Pierce are both important because they portray what is expected out of women in society in the twentieth century. Both of them show that women are expected to be physically attractive and good mothers and housewives, even if women want something entirely different. These poems are important because even though there are still some of these social expectations of women, in modern times, much of it has been changed or done away with. It shows the progress that has been made regarding what society expects of women.
society’s depiction of her and lastly the title of the poem embodying the girl’s own affliction. The message though, that I personally took away from analyzing this poem is to be happy with the body and features you are granted and to forget what society may think of you because while you can work out and wear makeup and change your features you only have one body to live in. One of my favorite quotes is “What other people think of you is not your business. If you start to make that business your business, you will be offended for the rest of your life” by Deepak Chopra. Unfortunately for the girl in Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” this mind set was made impossible by society’s standards for her as it is for many young women in todays “thigh gap” obsessed
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.
Lucille Clifton is a great poet, she made many great poems regarding to woman. Homage to My Hips is one of her famous creation that brought to many attention. Yet, instead of making a great poem about equality, what she made is a complete single sided opinion of oppressing men and putting women on top, and controlling others. As a conclusion, her poem are masked as an innocent woman’s body promotion, but the whole poem could be reread as a self-centered, manipulative sexism and hypocrisy promotion for extremist feminism.