The Denotation Of Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll

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Recommended: What literary elements are used in the poem barbie doll by marge piercy

The highlight of a poem is that there is limited amount of words, each word having a significant purpose within the poem. Each word has a meaning to it and a weight it hold that helps understand the poem, however the use of that word and understanding of is determined by the author. The word can either be used by the literal definition which is denotation, or by connotation the subjective cultural and/or emotional coloration with the denotative meaning of any word. The title “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy refers towards a fashion doll or toy but “doll”. The connotation that comes with a barbie doll is what the ideal women should aim for, perfect, attractive, pretty, happy. The two meaning of “Barbie Doll” have a drastic shift, as a doll that is a toy which a child can use to entertain themselves with, but a “Barbie Doll” can be understood as idealist due the expectations that women should live up to mimic the doll closely and manipulative showing girls what a ideal women should be and should only care about looks. These dolls are aimed to a “Girl Child”, we understand that the phrase is referring to a young adolescent female child. …show more content…

Throughout the poem keywords that help us understand the connotative meaning of the title, such key words are “Bicycle”, “Crash” , and “Goodbye”. “Bicycle” is best understood as a vehicle composed of two wheels with handlebars attached to the front wheel. Within the context of the poem we can understand that bicycle is the independence and freedom as the daughter is the one in control of the bike. Referring to her daughter who starting to leave her home and start her own life. As for crash is the collision of an object with a surface or another object. But crash can be seen as failure, disaster, setback. As the mother is expecting her daughter to fail on her journey of

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