Society tells children what they should be like. Girls should play with dolls and boys should play with toy cars and weapons. With these stereotypes comes the idea that men are “gross” and “jerks.” The poems “Barbie Doll” and “Playboy” show the dangers of allowing consumerism to take over society. The consequences of these are quite different, yet the same point is made. In the poems “Barbie Doll” and “Playboy” the imagery, tone, and syntax warn the reader about the dangers of consumerism, but each poem shows the consequences quite differently. Both poems use an incredible amount of imagery. In “Barbie Doll”, the girl is described as “healthy, tested intelligent, [with] strong arms and back.” This creates the image of an ordinary girl who has nothing seriously wrong with her. By using this image, the effect of the girl’s death increases in severity. Similarly, in “Playboy”, an image is created of a boy who is hiding and looking at a Playboy magazine. The boy studies the magazine “like a sage” and has nothing else on his mind. This image shows how absorbed people can become in consumer goods. This also relates to a child sitting on the couch watching his flat-screen television, …show more content…
In both poems, a factual tone is created early in the first stanzas. This factual tone creates the idea that the authors’ statements should be taken as the truth. The speakers seem very absent from the scenes and express little emotion. This shows how consumerism is seen in society and how people often overlook it. In “Barbie Doll”, however, the last stanza takes on a gloomy, sarcastic tone. This emotion does not appear until the final stanza. By doing so, Piercy relates to the way that people do not recognize bullying and danger until it is too late. Once people have died, the time has passed to help them. By using this shift in tone, Piercy clarifies the theme in her poem, making it more obvious to see than in