Self Image In Barbie Doll

In recent decades, society changed its perception of physical appearance and self-image. People place more importance on achieving physical perfection, however, this creates a large amount of pressure on the individual to achieve this unobtainable goal. In Marge Piercy’s poem, “Barbie Doll”, she focuses on an adolescent girl who was driven to commit suicide as a means to rid herself of the stress of being perfect. The poem brings to light the issue of adolescent suicide due to the pressures of self-image. This embodies many teenagers’ feelings because they can try to make their life as unflawed as possible, but some physical attributes cannot be altered. “Barbie Doll” shows the failure to accept one’s physical flaws and only finding happiness

through suicide. Teen suicide has become a predominant issue in today’s society due to the increasing pressure from peers and society’s changing standards of perfection .
Adolescents most often succumb to different types of pressure inflicted upon them from their peers, making this a large issue in today’s society. The main character in “Barbie Doll” first experiences self-doubt through peer pressure: “Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said: / You gave great big nose and fat legs.” (Piercy lines 5-6). By specifying the main character recently went through puberty, readers learn that she falls into the teenage age group, where individuals are highly susceptible to peer pressure. Before reaching the age of puberty, the girl in the poem was content with her physical appearance, not noticing any flaws in herself. However, after a classmate criticized her, she became self-conscious and had a more negative self-image. Many consider this a form of bullying for insulting one’s physical appearance, which has long lasting effects on the victim. According to Fox and Farrow, “victims of peer aggression have lower self-esteem and further suggested that they tend to accept negative actions towards them to a greater degree than individuals with higher self-esteem” (Fox and Farrow). Many teenagers today face peer pressure and are often scarred by its severity. Bullying from peer pressure results in adolescents possessing a low self-esteem, which ultimately leads them to commit suicide when failing to meet others’ expectations. In recent years, young adults altered their idea of perfection due to a change in society’s opinion of physical beauty.
Society’s changing perception of physical appearance often drives teenagers to harshly criticize themselves, sometimes to the point of self-harm.

Recently, society tends to focus on physical and materialistic beauty portrayed through the media. The media instantly forms unspoken physical standards that teenagers think they should meet. A strict belief in achieving a perfect appearance places a large amount of growing pressure on all people. Teenagers especially experience such stress because at that age, their bodies and personalities change drastically and they become more concerned on what others think of them. For example, they are pressured to be physically fit, dress, look, and act a certain way. Teenagers critique these particular characteristics because the media highlights such attributes. As a result, the stress of being perfect builds up within almost all adolescents. These societal pressures often have negative, or unintended consequences: “… [the] perception of overweight is related to depressed mood, somatic complaints, and lower self-esteem” (Whetstone, Morrissey, and Cummings). This study proves the theory that low self-esteem and low self-confidence directly result from trying to conform to societal pressures. Society also has a morphed sense of beauty. The public comments on the teenage girl’s dead body, “Doesn’t she look pretty? everyone said. / Consummation at last.” (Piercy 24-25). These last few lines of the poem display how distorted society’s views

on beauty and perfection truly have become. The bystanders claim that the adolescent girl is more perfect now that she is dead without her small flaws than when she was alive. She unfortunately could not accept her flaws and failed to deal with the stress society put on her, resulting in her taking her life.
Both pressures from peers and from society easily accumulate in a person’s life resulting in the person committing suicide as a means to alleviate said pressure. From “Barbie Doll”, the poet illustrates how a teenage girl failed to cope with the immense pressure and stress put upon her by society and ended her life. Feeling pressured to change her flaws, “she cut off her nose and legs/and offered them up” (18-19). Like many other teenagers, the girl strove for the perfect self-image, and in attempt to achieve this impossibility, she got rid of the flaws holding her back. These insecurities were only deemed flaws from her peers and society because they differed from a “normal” appearance. Females are likely to experience more issues with self-image because society has set higher standards of physical beauty for them than those for men. Piercy writes, “To every woman a happy ending” (26). This final line of the poem sums up that the adolescent girl only achieved happiness after she was dead and no longer had to deal with the insane stress she was under. The poet also uses “every woman” (26) purposely because it emphasizes that this is an extremely common issue among all women of any age. Seeking approval and a perfect self-image is a struggle for all women due to the ever-changing standards in society. In some cases, this struggle causes the person to take their own life when they fail to meet what they perceive to be perfect.
In today’s society, teen suicide is a more prevalent issue due to the changing standards of physical perfection.

The poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy focuses on this present issue of societal pressures leading to a lower self-esteem that ultimately resulted in a teenager committing suicide. Peer pressure, most often within teenage groups, causes people to behave the way they do. Adolescent teens constantly seek approval from their peers and will change almost anything about themselves to achieve this. Peer pressure and this unobtainable standard of perfection is motivated by the media and society. Recently, society has been more driven by physical appearance and extremely high self-images. Because this standard is set so high, people often struggle to change themselves to be what society considers acceptable. Within this quest for perfection, a large amount of pressure builds within a person trying to either accept or alter their insecurities. As the pressure accumulates, some people cannot cope with this stress and unfortunately commit suicide as a means of solving their problems. Society has become so distorted in its perception of beauty that it unintentionally causes people to kill themselves rather than accepting their true

selves.