Analysis of “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy
Barbie has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for fifty years. Mattel received many criticisms about Barbie and the impact she has on young girls. In the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy the title perfectly introduces the message of the poem. The Barbie doll is known to be the “idol” figure that all girls want to be. The toy symbolizes the need to have physical qualities that fit in, just as the poem implies. In short “Barbie Doll” is about a young girl that is given dolls as an influence on how she should act, dress, and look. Though out her life she was smart and amazing in her only way but she still felt self-conscious. So she conformed to what the world wants her to be, and …show more content…
The main character in the poem never had a chance to live life to the fullest because she was always trying to please others and be accepted. Piercy wrote “She went to and fro apologizing” meaning she never got the chance to be herself which led her to lead a life of unhappiness. The theme of Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” is the compulsive need to be attractive in society’s judgmental eyes and the desire to live up to other’s standards instead of one’s personal ideals. We see this in the third stanza in lines 17-18 which states “So she cut off her nose and/ offered them up” and stanza one lines 5-6 “…a classmate said: / You have a great big nose and fat legs.” Society always had a control over individual lives, and especially the most on women. The society tells women how to dress and eat, how to behave in order to be accepted. Little girls are expected to become perfect feminine beauties, additionally learning the art of cooking and ironing in their later life. “Barbie Doll” highlights these social roles in comparison to a doll. The girl in the poem represents all other girls. It makes us realize that every girl in some point of her time in life was made to feel unaccepted or
Barbie has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for fifty years. Mattel received many criticisms about Barbie and the impact she has on young girls. In the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy the title perfectly introduces the message of the poem. The Barbie doll is known to be the “idol” figure that all girls want to be. The toy symbolizes the need to have physical qualities that fit in, just as the poem implies. In short “Barbie Doll” is about a young girl that is given dolls as an influence on how she should act, dress, and look. Though out her life she was smart and amazing in her only way but she still felt self-conscious. So she conformed to what the world wants her to be, and …show more content…
The main character in the poem never had a chance to live life to the fullest because she was always trying to please others and be accepted. Piercy wrote “She went to and fro apologizing” meaning she never got the chance to be herself which led her to lead a life of unhappiness. The theme of Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” is the compulsive need to be attractive in society’s judgmental eyes and the desire to live up to other’s standards instead of one’s personal ideals. We see this in the third stanza in lines 17-18 which states “So she cut off her nose and/ offered them up” and stanza one lines 5-6 “…a classmate said: / You have a great big nose and fat legs.” Society always had a control over individual lives, and especially the most on women. The society tells women how to dress and eat, how to behave in order to be accepted. Little girls are expected to become perfect feminine beauties, additionally learning the art of cooking and ironing in their later life. “Barbie Doll” highlights these social roles in comparison to a doll. The girl in the poem represents all other girls. It makes us realize that every girl in some point of her time in life was made to feel unaccepted or