Amber LaCourt
ENG 0201
Professor Baker
6/11/18
Paper #2 In the short story, “Barbie-Q” By Sandra Cisneros uses a Barbie doll to portray the two young girls inner struggles with perfection and identity. Cisneros wanted to use two girls from families with limited incomes to get the surprise of having a local toy warehouse and stacks of burnt Barbie dolls, which immediately makes them available for a bargained price. The characters that Cisneros uses help show a flow of consciousness by using a variety of adjective and listing to capture the voice of these two girls. She also wanted to show the young girls infatuation with Barbie dolls. This shown when one of the young girls is describing her Barbie doll in comparison to the other
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This is an example of Cisneros childhood and wanted the reader of this short story to understand that growing up with little wasn’t always the worst (Frever 126). While at the flea market the two young girls finally get what they wanted the most, they end up getting all the Barbies they ever could want. This occurs when a warehouse full of barbies burnt down and somewhere salvageable after. The two girls are incredibly excited about their “new dolls”. However, the dolls aren’t in the best condition. One the girls go on to say that they smelled like “smoke” and were “soaked” in water (Cite). The two girls are described by Cisneros in this situation as grateful for getting these “new” dolls (Cite) . Also she wanted the reader to understand and take in that society wants women to have a perfect body, clothes and hair, which is conveyed through the description of the dolls not being in the condition they were bought in. Cisneros wanted to demonstrate throughout “Barbie-Q” the ideal image of women in society. By exposing the fact of being materialistic and perfect like a Barbie doll isn’t how real young women are. Also by expressing the fact that everyone doesn’t grow up with lots of money and that women come in a …show more content…
The narrator who is a teenage boy often describes and categorizes these women by their looks and what they are willing to do sexaully. Diaz in a variety of ways makes this short story as a guide for teenage boys by causal language and slang throughout. Given that the narrator is from a inner city, the story initially comes off as stereotypical. Diaz often shifts words from positive to negative by describing the girls social class and ethnicity to show how the narrator treats the girls he's with. This shows how the influence of stereotypes on the narrator can influence his decisions regarding how to treat the girl. For example, the stereotype of dating a White girl will mean that she comes from a family of wealth and privilege. By attaching these stereotypes or assumption only put women in a certain light to be objectified. Diaz also highlights how the stereotype of White girls being easy and giving it up on the first date (Cite). While the narrator categorizes African American and Hispanic girls as different from the White girls. The initial tone of the short story comes off as a guide or instruction manual for young boys who are beginning to date. In the second paragraph, the narrator instructs the reader to hide his real social class by hiding the government cheese in the cabinet or the
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
In the second paragraph of “Barbie-Q,” the author speaks from a first-person perspective while describing how she typically plays pretend using her dolls. The narrator explains to the reader that, “Your Barbie is roommates with my Barbie, and my Barbie’s boyfriend comes over and your Barbie steals him, okay? Kiss kiss kiss. Then the two Barbies fight. You dumbbell! He’s mine.” This text openly reveals how the young author, who presumably has not even reached her teen years yet, has been deeply
It is my opinion that Prager has failed in her attempts to persuade the reader that Barbie is a tool created from male fantasy or a poster child for modern feminism. If anything this essay has helped me to realize that Barbie is a combination of both worlds. She is both sexually appealing to men and someone that women can admire and even a toy that little girls can play with and hope to be like when they are older. I still remain adamantly devoted to my Barbie dolls, seeing her as neither temptress or sexually frustrated object.
A theme of the story “Barbie-Q” is innocence, the two little girls were walking with their parents near a yard sale when they saw some barbie dolls. Both insisted their parents to buy the barbies until they said okay the barbies were burnt, wet, and smell like smoke. But they were still happy with their burnt barbies because they are innocence and they don't know what they do.
Cisneros' Barbie-Q really stood out as a great piece of literature. Barbie-Q is a quick glimpse into the life of a poverty-stricken child and her way of life. Though my life as of yet has been rather short, my earliest childhood memories are overwhelmingly my fondest and her account really struck a chord. Sandra Cisneros' accurate reflection of a young mind and intricate writing methods expressed great emotion. Her portrayal of a child's mentality evoked my childhood recollections while her realistic tale of childhood bliss in the midst of poverty caused great empathy on my part making this my preferred work we studied.
Children’s child play has become a form of an unrealistic world. Although, it is considered for children to begin creating a creative imagination, the mind fascinates children into toys. Some child’s play toys are not ideal for young children, like the one and only “Barbie”. Barbie has become a worldwide toy product for children all over the world, from the North Pole to the South Pole. These dolls have emerged from one ethnicity to another. In Ann DuCille, “Dyes and Dolls: Multicultural Barbie and the Merchandising of Differences” the author talks about the race and gender differences; found in Barbie. She argues; “Is Barbie bad?” her response, was “Barbie is just a piece of plastic” (459). In contrast, this piece of plastic is not just a piece of plastic to young girls; it is much more than that. A piece of plastic that little girls all over the world wish they could be. Even though, it is only a piece of plastic to adults that Barbie significantly means nothing to them. Growing up, I owned a couple of Barbie dolls. The tall, long blond hair, blue-eyed doll was my best friend and my “role model”. I wanted to become exactly like Barbie. As a child, I thought only beautiful people who looked liked Barbie signified beauty. To my little to no knowledge, I soon came to find out no one really looks like Barbie, except people who want to become like Barbie. In my adolescent years, no one taught me Barbie was “unreal”; no one taught me it was just a figure in my imagination.
Motz’s asserts that the dolls give young girls the power the essentially be anything they wanted to be though they “reflect traditional, outdated roles for women”. The Barbie doll gives young women the idea that life can be spent with leisure without much effort. Considering the dolls have a different outfit for every task/event and portray a life of luxury, even while working or going to school. Motz’s says that the dolls are a symbol for modern American success which emphasizes “wealth, beauty, popularity and leisure”. The message these dolls convey negatively impact the identities of American women.
“Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy is about a girl who is a normal child growing up; playing with dolls, miniature kitchen items and pretend make-up. It quickly takes an interesting turn when a pubescent child makes fun of her nose and legs and she was advised to exercise and diet despite the fact that she was intelligent and healthy. The poem continues on by the girl cutting her legs and nose and a bizarre visual of her laying in a casket with an ending that states “to every woman a happy ending”( Piercy 791). This poem was written by Piercy in 1969 a year in which many women liberation groups were forming and the breaking of womanly roles was taking place. The poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy,
The main character also treats girls of different races differently. He wrongly suggests that if a girl is white, that you will definitely get a hand job before the night is through, if not more (Diaz 235). He says that white girls are the girls everyone really wants to date, because they are easy. This is why he does many things that white boys do. He also says that not many white girls live in his neighborhood, that the locals tend to be brown girls, black girls, or halfies. This is probably because many of the white people are of a higher economic class then he is. If they are in a higher economic class then he is, this may
The poem, "Barbie Doll," written by Marge Piercy tells the story of a young girl growing up through the adolescence stage characterized by appearances and barbarity. The author uses imagery and fluctuating tone to describe the struggles the girl is experiencing during her teenage years, and the affects that can happen. The title of this poem is a good description of how most societies expect others, especially girls to look. Constantly, people are mocked for their appearance and expected to represent a "barbie-doll"-like figure. Few are "blessed" with this description. The female gender is positioned into the stereotype that women should be thin and beautiful. With this girl, the effects were detrimental. The first stanza describes the
Diaz progresses into detailing the necessary steps the young man must follow to get an actual date with a woman dependent upon her race and background. The young man is led to believe that for each type of girl he must present himself differently to not offend her or her parent’s fragile sensibilities and receives instructions on how to properly illicit a date “The directions were in your best handwriting, so her parents won't think you're an idiot” (256). Clearly, careful psychological manipulations of a girl’s parents are a vital component in achieving dating success. To this point, the young man has only received instruction and it is here that the reader receives some insight into which type of woman the young man is wanting to date “The white ones are the ones you want the most, aren't
In Marge Piercy's "Barbie Doll" a young girl is troubled by the classification of what it takes to become a beautiful woman. "Barbie Doll" details the image that society projects upon women. From an early age young women struggle to conform to the standards that society has defined for them. Beautiful dolls such as Barbie are frequently the first source of association that young girls have with the image that society has placed upon them.
“ideals are developmentally ingrained in children and adolescents”( Englis 1). The idea of beauty and ideal looks are engraved into people at a young age. The little girl being given a Barbie doll shows this in the poem. The idea of beauty and how a woman should act are represented in the Barbie doll. The primary take away is beauty is not everything.