...off her nose and her legs/ and offered them up.” This quote from “Barbie Doll”, by Marge Piercy, refers to a young girl who wishes to change her character and her appearance in order to live up to society’s expectations. In fact, instead of being complimented or admired for whom she truly is, people would rather criticize and condemn her for whom she isn’t. As a result of endlessly trying to alter her portrait, the “girlchild” eventually “wore herself out”. This poem suggests that unrealistic societal demands are destructive for a woman’s self-esteem and well-being. When comparing oneself to an idealistic notion of female beauty and behaviour, one can only expect to feel demoralized, discouraged and devalued. Indeed, "Barbie Doll," the title of the poem, symbolizes society’s view of a perfect woman; the way society expects every woman to be. In fact, by using “Barbie Doll” as the title to her poem, Marge Piercy wants the reader to compare and contrast the adolescent’s appearance to that of a Barbie doll. Stereotypically, Mattel’s Barbie dolls have tall, thin yet curvy bodies, with symmetrical, perfect facial features, blonde hair and blue eyes. This, in turn, leads to the protagonist’s void of self-confidence. Additionally, living up to such standards - all the while being a housewife who must clean the house, raise the children and please her husband - is very demanding on the female gender. Moreover, the doll is symbolic of the ways that women themselves have been plasticized...
Words: 7896 - Pages: 32
...In the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy, she illustrates the effect that society has on the expectations of women. This expectation is that women, like the girl described in the poem, should be perfect. She should know how to cook and clean, but most importantly she should be attractive according to the impossible stereotypes of womanly beauty. Many women in today’s society are being compared to the unrealistic physical looks and life of the Barbie doll. Through the past many years, the Barbie doll has gone from a popular toy to a role model for actual women in today’s society. The extremes to which women take the Barbie doll as a role model are implicit in this poem. The opening line of the poem says, “This girlchild was born as usual,” which suggests that as soon as a female child is born, society expects her to learn the role she will play once she hits puberty. Therefore, showing the readers why little girls are given dolls at a young age to illustrate how they should act and appear according to society. Once girls learn the roles they will soon have to play in their own lives, “the magic of puberty,” hits and girls immediately begin applying these ideals to their own lives. As if the attempt of girls trying to conform to the Barbie doll image isn’t enough, they also have other people in society telling them that they’re not perfect. “You have a great big nose and fat legs,” says a classmate to the girl. This type of pressure from peers and society can slowly but surely...
Words: 701 - Pages: 3
...Guerline Donisvitch “Introduction to Literature” Ann Rasmussen April 23, 2009 Barbie Doll The poem begins in a fairy-tale vein, the archaic term “girl-child” being used to underscore the mythic quality of the story. The dolls, stove, iron and lipstick are all traditional play things for young girls, but they are also markers of an identity in the making, the things that young girls grow to identify with their own social roles. The doll presents an idealized image of the body, and stove and irons tell them what kind of work is expected of them as adults. The lipstick perhaps is the most sexualized cosmetic for women, signals to young girls that they will be valued for their physical appearance. The “magic of puberty” introduces the theme of growth. It is a magical time because the body changes rapidly. She also refers to the pain that comes with puberty. When girls are growing older they are really cruel to each other. The “girl child” is told she has “a great big nose and fat legs” even though she is smart, healthy and strong. The girl was made to feel guilty for who she was, for her intelligence and abilities, and also for not being slim and “beautiful.” She apologized to everyone for not being the person they wanted her to be, but all they could see was her body and how it did not match their idea of what a woman should look like. They tried to help her be more of an idealized woman by suggesting how to compensate for her unfeminine qualities. “girl-child”...
Words: 1216 - Pages: 5
...LITR 301 February 18, 2014 Girl Compared to a Barbie Doll Women were considered the subordinate gender that was expected to have this stay at home homemaker attitude. They were supposed to powder their noses and look pretty. Women are discriminated against in society. Women have stereotypical gender roles they are supposed to uphold. As suggested in the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy the Barbie doll is the idealized image of a woman and is considered to have long legs, perfect skin, small waist and a slender figure. The Barbie doll speaks for itself. It says that women should be domestic workers and maintain a feminine outer appearance. These type of values affect young girls because they are taught early that this is what a woman should look and act like. The Barbie doll has a lot of appeal and popularity for the past several years so it is difficult to alter the ideas of womanhood suggested by this doll. These ideas to be like and do as a Barbie doll cannot be overthrown because it has already been deeply planted in our society. In contrast, the short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid suggests that women are condemned to patriarchy because of socially constructed gender stereotypes. She criticizes the idealized patriarchal norms and pressures which overshadows the lives of women. Young girls are exposed to the pressures and expectations of how they should live. They are also brainwashed in believing that their role as a women is to become a domestic homemaker and that...
Words: 2378 - Pages: 10
...Barbie Doll Women have a wrong perspective about beauty. With media and social networking on the rise, the standard of beauty is skewed to what others portray it to be. Women who don’t have supportive people around them to reinforce the true concept of beauty often grow up to be self-destructive and seek validation from all the wrong places. There is too much importance and too much anxiety placed on women to surrender to the image of being or becoming a Barbie doll. In the poem “Barbie Doll,” written by Marge Piercy tells a story of a young girl’s short life. The girl is born and lives a normal life until she is made fun of during puberty which causes her to commit suicide. In this poem we see evidence to this idea in the poet’s use of irony, her attitude on the subjects of both inner and outer beauty, and her attitude on the significance of words interfering with a woman’s self confidence. To begin, the poet’s use of irony is felt most toward the end of the poem. The very thought that people would say a person is pretty only after they are dead and it is too late for them to hear is sad and disturbing. “Doesn’t she look pretty? Everyone said.” In fact, the reason a person looks pretty in their casket is because they are “made-up” to look their best. This is seen more specifically with these lines, “the undertaker’s cosmetics painted on, a turned-up putty nose, and dressed in a pink and white night.” We are lead to believe that the entire group of people at the funeral thinks...
Words: 871 - Pages: 4
...on the term of external challenge of globalizing progress, specifically of social connection-cultural management issue. Issue: Cultural management is one of significant challenges of internalization process. It is an important way for any firm successfully extends and operates the business to other countries. It is also a crucial key of success for the firm to have capability of meeting the customers demand (Heino 2008). Mattel is the company launched by Ruth and Elliot Handler and Harold "Matt" Matson in 1945. In 1959 the main product was officially released to the market, which called “Barbie” doll. This company becomes extremely successful in term of Internalization Process; however Matt had to face with a huge challenge in Chinese market because of lack of careful considering the social factor. In 2009, the company made a foray by establishing the world's largest "House of Barbie" valuing $30 millions in a prime Shanghai location, which built the six-story shop including...
Words: 653 - Pages: 3
...poem “Barbie Doll” The poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy seems to be a strange poem. When I first read it, I thought that is a poem for children, but the ending of the poem is weird. Then I read it again many times. I remembered that one time, when I was in my art class. We were talking about the image of the Barbie Doll and the American culture. The body shape of the Barbie Doll was changing over time to meet the standard which depends on the culture and society at the specific time. This poem is about a little girl, who is perfectly normal about physical. As many other little girls, she plays with doll, and household toys. She is healthy and intelligent. But people don’t think she’s beautiful when they look at her. Everyone only see that she has a great big nose and fat legs. She is advised to be on diet and exercise. But then she is exhausted and dies. She cuts of her nose, her legs and offers them. Lying in the casket with the fake putty nose, the nightie, and pain, people now start seeing her as a beautiful girl. The little girl is a normal girl just like the others. The “doll that did pee-pee,” the “GE stoves and irons” are common toys for little girls (Line 2-3). The toys show them how should they expect their body to be and the role of them in the society. The “wee lipsticks” is a toy which is faked from the domestic accessory of adult (4). The idea of the “wee lipsticks” seems to be guiding the little girl to pay attention to their outside looks. The Barbie doll...
Words: 974 - Pages: 4
...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,...
Words: 664 - Pages: 3
...Oluwatoyin Ogunniyi Ms. Hamilton Composition I December 1st , 2011 Barbie Doll The piece of literature I chose to analyze was Barbie Dolls by Marge Piercy. This poem is about a young girl who goes through the normal stages of female bodily development. As the “girlchild” becomes a female she has an ugly nose and fat legs. She tries to be accepted by society but they deny her because of her looks. After a numerous attempts of trying to fit in she gives up. “Girlchild” has surgery and almost risks her life all to make her self pretty. In a way this is the story of your average american girl today. In the poem Barbie Dolls the author Marge Piercy is trying to show that females think that looking like a barbie doll is socially acceptable, so they alter themselves and almost kill themselves to be accepted by others. In the beginning of the poem the “girlchild” is presented with a barbie doll which to every young girl is the idealistic idea of beauty. The barbie doll had miniature stoves and irons and lipsticks. These items that she is presented with are household items that females or housewives tend to use. This sometimes molds society to believe that a woman's place is at home while the husband is being the money maker. As she gets older puberty occurs “a classmate said: you have a great big nose and fat legs”(lines 5-6) . She was “health intelligent poised , strong arm and back”(line 7). All of these characteristics are great but everywhere she went all people...
Words: 787 - Pages: 4
...The poem by Marge Piercy “Barbie Doll” is very different from the poem by Lucille Clifton “homage to my hips.” The authors of these poems have very different viewpoints and attitudes in expressing their story on the similar subject. Both poems present the aspect of women rejection of society’s expectations concerning the physical appearance. The poem by Lucille Clifton speaks in the first person and brings confidence and high self-esteem outlook while the poem by Marge Piercy speaks in the third person and brings self-doubt and insecurity attitude in women’s appearance. The speaker in poem “homage to my hips” by Lucille Clifton is speaking in the first person about her personal appearance. She is “celebrating a part of her body that has traditionally...
Words: 300 - Pages: 2
...According to Claire Bates, 15 million people get plastic surgery every year just to fit in and look nice, such as liposuction, facelift, cheek enhancement. Marge Piercy’s poem, “Barbie Doll,” talks about a little girl that grew up with confidence until puberty hit her and her classmates made fun of her. She tried as much as she could to make them like her, but she ended up dead in a casket. The theme of the poem is that the people around you will judge you, but in the end, all that matters is that you accept yourself for what you’ve become. Piercy’s use of figurative language and the shifts portrays the theme of the poem. Marge Piercy elaborates the theme by using figurative language. She uses simile to help point out the meaning of the...
Words: 572 - Pages: 3
...One of the primary concerns of feminism is, and has been for a while, not only gender inequality in social and political terms, but also the way both sexes are viewed by the society. People’s mentality is a source of stereotypes, gender stereotypes in particular. Marge Piercy, a poet and a feminist, considers these stereotypes a serious issue, which is inevitably reflected in her creativity, particularly the four poems under analysis – “Barbie Doll”, “What Are Big Girls Made Of?”, “Rape Poem” and “The Friend”. The poems “Barbie Doll” and “What Are Big Girls Made Of?” concentrate on the topic of sexualization of women and young girls. The issue that worries the author most is the way the society treats females: they are perceived as mere commodities,...
Words: 1270 - Pages: 6
...“Barbie” Society has placed immense pressure on girls and women of all ages. The definition of Beauty has been altered over the years and the expectation of what beauty looks like is now sickly represented by a materialistic object, a Barbie Doll. Although not every individual conforms to expecting this modern representation of beauty, society as a whole has placed pressure on girls and women to strive to look this way. The consequences of not having this appearance are often brutal. Girls are deemed as ugly, unpopular, and are frequently disrespected by their peers or most often by men. Contemporary poet Marge Piercy published a narrative poem titled “Barbie Doll.” The Four stanzas provide the reader with a brief tale of a nameless “girlchild” (1) whose life, markedly influenced by others’ opinions, comes to a sad and premature end. Piercy captures the stereotypes and pressure on girls’ lives and the effects it has on them. She creates this overall effect with her use of characterization throughout the poem. “This girlchild was born as usual,” the poem begins (1). As a child she is given ostensibly appropriate gifts that expose her to feminism. She receives miniature home appliances, dolls, and makeup. The expectation is set at a very early age for her to later conform to society’s view of a doll playing pretty girl. Later, “in the magic of puberty,” (1) a schoolmate comments unflatteringly on her appearance, noting her “great big nose and fat legs” (1). From the second stanza...
Words: 701 - Pages: 3
...modern society, perceptions are frequently biased. Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror” forces an objective outlook upon the reader to hint at an inward struggle with beauty. Likewise, Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” depicts the life of a woman who sold her life in the pursuit of elegance. Most women are brought up to unrealistic standards that “guarantee” beauty if one plays along. Like a carnival game without winners, pursuing positive self-image could become an endless battle to some. Society, through various forms of media, discombobulates a desired appearance to heighten self-pity in women. To countless minds, beauty is everything. Using self-hatred wastelands also known as social media platforms, society influences entire populations. The poems “Mirror” and “Barbie Doll” enlighten this problem, however in times even before the digital age. To start, “Mirror” portrays a woman's loss of innocence through self-pity. As the woman in the poem looks for acceptable features in...
Words: 697 - Pages: 3
...Deaf and Hearing Loss Most students with hearing loss experience delayed performance in academic achievement. The earlier hearing loss occurs in a student’s life, the more serious the effects are on the student’s development. Different types of hearing loss affect students’ ability to hear in various ways. The first type is Conductive, which affects the loudness of sounds heard. This type can be reduced or eliminated through medical treatment and special education is not always necessary for these students. A second type of hearing loss is Sensor Neural, which affects loudness, sounds and clarity a student hears. Since this hearing loss is permanent and cannot be repaired, early identification and intervention is a must in these cases. The last type of hearing loss is Mixed Hearing, which combines the characteristics of the previous two types. Hearing loss can cause delay in development of receptive and expressive communication skills, resulting in learning problems and reduced academic achievement. Communication difficulties can also lead to limited social skills and poor self-confidence. Students with hearing loss have difficulty with all areas of achievement, especially reading and math. The involvement of parents and schools can be a strong impact on the students’ level of achievement. Language development is the basic requirement for success, as most students will experience a language delay and may require interpreters or assistants for communication...
Words: 447 - Pages: 2
