Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy

Barbie Doll

The poem "Barbie Doll" wrote by Marge Piercy describes four different stanzas about the cultural and societal expectations that American people place on young girls. The poem describes a short summary over the life of a young female from birth to death. The start of the poem is written with a happy tone emphasizing about the Barbie doll and its characteristics. Depression and sadness then takes place starting with the very negative line "You have a great big nose and fat legs." and then continues through the rest of the poem ending with the young lady's death. The American culture believes that a young women's body should portray that of the Barbie doll. Just like Zach Woodson states, "It is no coincidence that Piercy names the poem Barbie Doll the quintessential example of fake perfection" (Woodson).

The first stanza is set with a very outgoing and upbeat tone mentioning the doll and what bonus parts that enhance the figurine to reveal its pure beauty and the role in life it should take. The life of young girls was filled with excitement such as "dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves and irons, and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy". The presence of the Barbie doll teaches young girls what roles that females will hold in life. Barbie is viewed as a model in life for girls to act one specific way and enjoy certain activities because they are females whom people consider to be feminine. The miniature stove and iron present with the doll are items that correspond to being a housewife and mother. A "perfect woman" whom knows how to care for a house and raise children at the same time is being viewed to girls at such a young age. The Barbie enhances this view by having a baby, pots and pans, and an iron included in the box with the Barbie. These items were present to show the young girls what was expected from her as they got older. Bright cherry red lipstick that is present on the Barbie seems acquitted at first sight but it rather has a different meaning to it. The color of red lipstick is considered to be a sensual shade for a grown woman to have included in her make-up bag. Introducing a sensual shade of lipstick for a girl to apply on their lips at such a young age expresses how sexual appeal is introduced to early in life. The fairy-tale like tone that is present in the first stanza is still included when Piercy mentions "Then in the magic of puberty". She emphasizes this phrase describing puberty by being magical to portray that this process is a special event taking place in a young girl's life then allowing one to become a young woman. The line "You have a great big nose and fat legs." that a classmate told to the young woman is very decisive yet harmful to the heart of her. It showed us how young girls were struggling with the guidelines that people had set for an ideal woman. It depicted how puberty is pain at the same time. The young girl was compared to the Barbie, perfect women, in the first stanza.

In the second stanza Piercy still keeps her comparison and mentions that the young girl is transformed into a teenager. Piercy enhances that the teenager holds wonderful gifts and is unique; thou the society surrounding the teenager forces her to forge herself into what they want her to look like. Piercy states the teenager being "healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back". Yes the Barbie is intelligent just like the teenager; however the Barbie did not portray "strong arms and back" because her measurements were anorexic like with frail arms and consist of a weak back from how large her chest is. The teenager was pressured to adapt to her surrounding society and went "to and fro apologizing" for her cleverness and majority for the fact that she was not beautiful and skinny. The teenage girl was apologizing because she wanted to be saved from the drastic embarrassment for not fitting in the exact picture of the "perfect woman". She had no need to apologize for the way she looked. Piercy recaptures the moment of disgrace that society portrays towards this teenage girl in saying that "everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs". This phrase shows how society does not look into what is on the inside of a woman but instead only concentrates on the appearance. During this stanza you can notice that the teenager is compared to Barbie but she does not meet the standards and it causes sadness and conflict