Barbie Doll By Marge Piercy - 845 Words

In â€Å"Barbie Doll† by Marge Piercy, society has a way of placing unrealistic expectations on women in today’s society. By using television, magazines, posters, slogans, and even toys women are given an image that they have to conform to in order to be beautiful. The speaker takes the reader through what a young child that developing into a beautiful woman may face as she goes through society and the hurtful comments made to her referencing her natural beauty. She uses self-image as the prominent theme, a tone that shifts quickly and dramatically and a counter argument that walks you through all stages of life. Overall, the theme of â€Å"Barbie Doll† is self-image. Self-image is something that every woman will face and struggle with. â€Å"She went to and fro apologizing (10)†, suggests that the young woman does struggle with her natural beauty. â€Å"Her good nature wore out (15)†, shows that eventually the young woman gave up on being herself. The tone is sardonic in the fact that her classmates are now satisfied with her once she is dead. â€Å"To every woman a happy ending (25)†. The image of a beautiful woman is a matter of opinion. Society has gotten to the point where a woman will lose in the end. Her natural beauty will fade as she grows older, gaining wrinkles, grey hair and becoming feeble. Meanwhile, the tone can be described as caustic, or bitter. Tonal shifts range from bitter or sardonic to ‘as a matter of fact’. These shifts show what a woman will go through as she absorbs theShow MoreRelatedBarbie Doll Marge Piercy1700 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Barbie Doll† by Marge Piercy The poem â€Å"Barbie Doll’ by Marge Piercy dramatizes the conflict between stereotyping and perfection within society. The title accentuates the theme of the poem; the Doll symbolizes society’s interpretation of beauty and a reflection of how the girl’s ideas of this beauty shape her self-worth. According to Steven Ratiner, author of Giving Their World: Conversations with Contemporary Poets, it is Piercy’s realistic interpretations of life experience which develops the themeRead MoreBarbie Doll Marge Piercy787 Words   |  4 PagesOluwatoyin 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 â€Å"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. â€Å"Girlchild† has surgeryRead MoreBarbie Doll By Marge Piercy980 Words   |  4 Pagespoem â€Å"Barbie Doll† was written in the year of 1973 by poet Marge Piercy. As stated on poetryfoundation.org, Marge Piercy was the first of her family to attend college, and was involved in political movements such as, Students for a Democratic Society and also one against the war that took place in Vietnam. Piercy is an emotional writer who often writes from a feminist point of view. (â€Å"Marge Piercy†). Would Marge Piercy believe that the poem â€Å"Barbie Doll† still has r elevancy today? â€Å"Barbie Doll† isRead MoreBarbie Doll By Marge Piercy1223 Words   |  5 Pagestotal disregard towards a child self-progression. In Barbie Doll poem by Marge Piercy it is portrayed a young girl who was attacked by society because of having unruly features on her appearance and body. To make clear, Piercy uses the title â€Å"Barbie Doll† in her poem to symbolize the cultural American traditions of making young girls live in a fairy tale world; where everything they see or do is perfect. The girl in this poem played with Barbie toys since she was little, but when she reached her pubertyRead MoreBarbie Doll by Marge Piercy610 Words   |  2 Pagesissues can be controversial in some cases. The poem â€Å"Barbie Doll† by Marge Piercy illustrates her view of a woman’s social role in America. Just from looking at the title of the poem, we can see that the author believes societys expectations of women are unrealistic. A barbie doll is supposed to be a figure of a â€Å"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 atRead MoreBarbie Doll By Marge Piercy874 Words   |  4 Pagesespecially in American society, women and young girls are too often targeted to dislike their self image. Thanks to media, magazines, models, and society standards, the image of a normal woman has been twisted into an unobtainable image. Marge Piercy s â€Å"Barbie Doll† perfectly defines this thought, and shadows a woman who feeds into the pressure of a superior image. Let it be noticed that this piece was written in the late 60 s, and compare the harsh and drastic change from the â€Å"perfect woman† fromRead MoreMarge Piercy s Barbie Doll 769 Words   |  4 Pages January 31, 2015 Exemplification of â€Å"Barbie Doll† by Marge Piercy In her poem â€Å" Barbie Doll,† Marge Piercy discusses society’s expectations from women, particularly young girls. Society expects that a girl should be perfect, like a â€Å"Barbie Doll†. The poem is about a character who fights with herself about having a perfect body image. This character struggles and shows that society only pays attention to physical appearance and not on inner beauty. Piercy also maintains that people put more socialRead MoreThe Poem Barbie Doll By Marge Piercy1535 Words   |  7 PagesThrough the poem â€Å"Barbie Doll† by Marge Piercy we see how much words can affect someone, especially the youth. By always being told that you are not good enough, you are going to take that one of two ways. One you may give in and give up, or you will decide to toughen up. No matter how hard you try, you will never be fully accepted until you die. There will always be someone who wants you to change something about yourself, in order for y ou to be â€Å"better.† If we do not take a stand for who weRead MoreThe Poem Barbie Doll By Marge Piercy1504 Words   |  7 PagesThe poem â€Å"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 thingRead MoreAnalysis Of Barbie Doll By Marge Piercy823 Words   |  4 PagesWomen and the Society They Live In In her lyric â€Å"Barbie Doll†, Marge Piercy talks about societys desires from ladies, especially young ladies. Society expects that young ladies ought to be flawless, similar to a â€Å"Barbie Doll†. The sonnet is about a character who quarrels with herself over having an immaculate self-perception. This character battles and demonstrates that society just focuses on physical appearance and not on inward magnificence. Piercy additionally keeps up that individuals put more