Analyzing Themes In The Poem 'Barbie Doll'

“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,

Character Analysis Marge Piercy’s Barbie doll is a narrative poem about a young girl who was born normal, healthy and intelligent but is expected to be a certain way and is chastised for her looks and ways of thinking if she does not fall into other people’s societal norms. The poem starts off with a description of a how a “girl child” (girl) is brought into this earth and how she is given presents that are archetypal to her gender.

Marge Percy “Barbie Doll” is a social commentary about the demanding pressures that the mass media produces about how women should look like and what type of body they should have. Women in the 1970s faced high standards and these standards still go on to this day. These high demands lead women to go above and beyond to meet standards that society has placed upon them. Some of these drastic measures can lead to consequences. In “Barbie Doll” the main character decided to undergo plastic surgery to fix her “big nose” and “fat legs”. Unfortunately she ended up dying in her struggle to meet the standard that the media has placed on her at an exceptionally young age. Her untimely death is a symbol and the theme of the poem that these women will work themselves to death to meet societies demands and most of the time it is all for nothing. All this women wanted was people to accept the way she looked and not critique her looks and it was not until her funeral day, when it no longer mattered, that she finally got that acceptance.

The Poem “Barbie Doll (1969)” by Marge Piercy describes a story of a girl who was controlled by society's belief of beauty. Marge Piercy was what we call today a “Feminist” she fought for what is right and what should done. “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy is a narrative poem. The central memo of this work is that area is obsessed alongside appearances.

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

In each poem, we see immense vivid and powerful imagery. In “Barbie Doll” we see the entire life of a woman. It starts at a young age, where she plays with dolls and toy ovens, starting her confines of her role. It moves onto teen years where more and more people would stop seeing her and start seeing what she

In the story “barbie doll” by Marge Piercy it’s about a young normal girl growing up playing with dolls and pretend make up. It takes a shocking turn when she is made fun of during her youth adulthood, for have a big nose and fat legs. Futher into the poem she cut off her legs and nose and a very unusual illustration of her laying in a casket with an conclusion that express “to every woman a happy ending”. Within society a women desire to be flawless when it comes to looks. There’s so much pressure and eagerness when it comes to a female fulfilling that image of looking like barbie.There is proof to this statement with the poet’s use of irony, imagery and the impact of words having a bad outcome on the self-esteem of females.

“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.

Just from looking at the title of the poem, we can see that the author believes society's expectations of women are unrealistic. A barbie doll is supposed to be a figure of a “perfect” woman that is tall, skinny, and flawless. This look is obviously unachievable for a human being to accomplish. Barbie dolls are also only given to young girls. They are shown at a young age what they are supposed to look like and how they are supposed to act. This is where girls are first introduced to their female roles in society. A doll is fake and made of plastic, incapable of being intelligent and having a mind of its own. These are the issues that Piercy addresses throughout her poem “Barbie Doll.”

This poem is a very influential poem. The key character in this poem seems to me that she never had the opportunity to live her life to the fullest because she was always trying to make others happy and be acknowledged, in which she never got the chance to be herself thus having an unhappy life. The toys provided to the girl are signs of feminism that the family wishes the adolescent grow up into. In today’s society a high level of expectations concerning women and their beauty, as girls mature they are persistently provoked for not looking like the typical “Barbie doll”. They start to rip apart their own bodies within their thoughts, and too often conclude with defects such as feeling fat or too thin, not tall enough or too tall, hair should

The poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy in relation to diversity alludes to specific aspects of gender, mainly targeting the female gender perspective and expectations. In the poem, Piercy is writing about a young girl transitioning from a child to a women and how society and its idea of beauty affects her. My interpretation of the poem is that the girl is basically crying out for help saying look I am healthy, intelligent, and strong but no one sees or cares about those things because the only thing they see when they look at her is her outside appearance and what society considers to be the flaws that she possesses. Although this was written in 1936 Piercy accurately describes the feeling of being defined or constricted by society to think, act, and look a particular way which is similar to that of todays society which is fueled by social media, where some find personal gratification and self confidence fueled from likes and retweets they receive.” Barbie doll “ is the perfect title for this poem because for the longest time a Barbie was a sign of something perfect and beautiful, a toy enjoyed by everyone and a conventional symbol for little girls all over the United States. Similarly the girl was conforming to be sort of like the Barbie doll in a way because of societal expectations and the want to be viewed in a particular light by ones peers.