The Poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy is about a girl who struggles with her body image. The speaker in the poem acts as an observer; watching the girl encounter different experiences as it related to her body image. Today’s generation is much similar to the life of the girl in this poem. Girls are forced to keep up with rising standards that are overwhelming and destructive. This poem uses form, imagery, and word choice to express how society chooses not to accept girls who do not represent the “ideal” woman.…
Today’s world demonstrates girls as these skinny twigs that are always on diets to fit what they think society expects from them. Some are happy with their body and who they are, but regardless of what they think about themselves, there will always be people who try to knock them down. The young girl was described as: “She was healthy, tested intelligent, / possessed strong arms and back, / abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity” (lines 7-9). The list of qualities above are examples of the way people are categorized and seen. The description of the girl gave a sense of imagery of how well rounded she was, except for the fact that she didn’t have the “Barbie body.” She was happy with who she was and her body, but when someone told her otherwise, she started questioning herself. The girl was, “ advised to play coy, / exhorted to come on hearty, / exercise, diet, smile and wheedle” (lines 12-14). Those list of activities are what most people imagine Barbie to act like: play dumb and not be yourself. She was also told to eat less to be skinny, just like the Barbie image everyone expects. Due to all the insecurities society had given this poor young girl, she followed into the footsteps of a “Barbie” girl and lost herself on the way. Imagery of the fake Barbie girl everyone wanted to be was…
The Barbie Doll Effect Society's idea to be attractive is to be nothing less than ideal. To lack perfection is not acceptable in society. Also society tells people how to dress and act, having people be and look a certain way to be accepted. The desire to be accepted can destroy ones’ self-esteem and many lose sight of their own true beauty. Many will do whatever it takes to not be, say, or do what society thinks is disturbing. Marge Piercy’s poem “Barbie Doll,” written in 1973, is a powerful poem about society’s pressure on a young woman. The name carries a lot of meaning because a Barbie doll has long been an icon in society. Although it is a children’s toy, a Barbie doll demonstrates a woman with a perfect body and pure beauty. The poem portrays a summary of a life since birth to the end of life at a funeral. The main character in the poem never has a chance to live life to the fullest because she is always trying to please others and be accepted, which leads to a life of unhappiness. Piercy uses form, diction, and imagery throughout the poem to help imagine the “perfect” woman in the eye of society and the price one may be willing to pay.…
Society’s Expectations on Women The poem, “Barbie Doll”, by Marge Piercy, is about a normal “girlchild” who gets criticized by society for not looking like a perfect doll. She changes herself to fit society’s expectations just to fit in, but only in the end does society see her as “pretty”. Piercy’s purpose of the poem is to show how society has appalling expectations of how women show look and act. Imagery, irony, and tone are terms that show how vile society's expectations are.…
Government Under the Constitution George Washington became the first president under the new Constitution on April 30, 1789. Washington gave a speech that day revolutionizing the generation’s principle of tremendous historical importance. Although political harmony was a sought out goal at this time, the 1790’s became known as an “age of passion” because of each party’s uncertainty of the others faithfulness to this new founding nation and with the voice of the people taking it upon themselves to ensure the “survival of American freedom” there would bound to be revolutionizing turn in society.…
Is Barbie Harmful to Young Girls? Blonde hair, blue eyes, business woman, rock star, princess and doctor, can you guess who? It’s Barbie. To be beautiful is to possess qualities that give great pleasure or satisfaction, and for most, Barbie is the epitome of beauty. For years Barbie has been a doll that has been living in the hands of girls of all ages. Some girls start getting Barbies as young as three years old and continue to collect these dolls sometimes into early adulthood. But are these dolls a positive influence on young girls? Barbie is harmful because she gives a false perception of beauty that effects the self esteem, health, and ethnic concerns of young girls.…
4. In her last paragraph Prager compares and contrasts the ways the toy company depicted the sexuality of Barbie and Ken. What are the differences? What ideas of cause and effect emerge from the comparison?…
The poem “Barbie Doll” is a poem concerning a young girl who has let the societal expectations that America puts on young women destroy her. The poem starts out by explaining a small female child who is just like all young girls. She had dolls and miniature ovens and lipsticks for the dolls, but when she hit puberty and her body began changing a classmate called her fat (Piercy, 687). This seems to be the beginning of all of her internal battles and self-esteem issues. The next stanza describes all the wonderful characteristics that this young woman should have been very proud of. She was a healthy intellectual who was also quite strong and skillful with her hands (Piercy, 687). The second stanza is predominantly sad to me because she possesses many of life’s more important qualities and it is a shame that she was unable to comprehend that. By my standards intelligence is a more prestigious quality to possess over beauty. The image that she owns is not incorrect in an empirical sense, but it is one that America does not accept as being the definition of the perfect woman. The girl’s human…
In the past, women were always considered the subordinate gender that was expected to powder their nose and stay at home to be a homemaker. Even now, despite the movement to liberate women from stereotypical gender roles, women are still seen as the inferior gender that is discriminated against in society. As suggested by the popular Barbie doll created by Mattel, the idealized image of a woman in our patriarchal society is one who takes care of the home and is flawlessly beautiful with perfect skin, long legs, small waist, and slender figure. The Barbie doll is used as a tool for patriarchy in that it reinforces the notion that women should be domestic workers and maintain a feminine outer appearance. Also, patriarchal values affect girls starting at a young age as they unconsciously begin to believe that Barbie is what a woman should look and be like. With the appeal and popularity of this doll for the past several years, it is difficult to alter the notions of womanhood suggested by this doll. This implies that patriarchy is something we can not permanently overthrow because it is so deeply rooted in our society.…
“Beauty. At the mention of this word, most girls are inclined to take a quick look into a compact mirror or run a few fingers through their hair, sizing themselves up with the nearest advertisement featuring a flawless bottle blonde” (Katie Atkinson). Women are willing to spend hours in the bathroom to be prepared for the day to look like a model when only traveling to the corner store is a real fascination. Most would not even walk out of the house without makeup on in fear they will be judged by their appearance. The short story, Barbie Q written by Sandra Cisneros, also shows the concept of girls trying to be “perfect.” It shows two girls trying to dress up their dolls to look high class. They spend so much money on clothing, shoes, and accessories, even though they come from a low income family, just to make their dolls look their best. The girls show the true meaning of someone being materialistic. When society focuses on the image of the next Barbie, women aren’t realizing how that’s changing themselves physically and emotionally just to live up to that expectation.…
Barbie dolls were born in the Wisconsin state of American 50 years ago. They are no longer simple dolls, but a symbol of American women, American culture and an ideal embodiment of global female. The following essay will firstly discuss Barbie dolls’ historical and cultural background of the era when they appeared. This part includes three aspects, which are the consumer society of America at that time, the prevailing of hedonism in the consumer society and the enhancement of self-awareness among Americans. Then the essay will illustrate the marketing strategy of Barbie dolls which is emphasized on the fashion. The illustration comprises the explanation of the relationship between consumption and fashion, the description of the figure of Barbie and the fashion culture in Barbie’s world. Finally, on the basis of the discussing above, three arguments about Barbie dolls will be presented. Three main arguments, which are Barbie dolls had made an important contribution to the awakening of female consciousness to a certain extent, too perfect and unrealistic figure of Barbie has no benefit for the growth of children and teenagers, and Barbie is essentially the perfect female body in the dreams of men under the patriarchal society.…
Upon initial release, Barbie began instigating social change both positively and negatively. Barbie was created to satisfy the needs of young girls who wanted to act out their aspirations for adult life with a doll – a function that could not be carried out by the ‘baby’ dolls existent at the time. At a local level, that is, in the neighbourhood of the Handler’s, a catalyst for social change ensued with positive outcomes in that young girls were encouraged to aspire to be something…
A Look Worth Dying For The theme of the poem, “Barbie Doll,” by Marge Piercy is the overwhelming pressure society exerts on females to be stereotypically attractive and the willingness to go to great lengths in order to achieve “perfection.” Many females, especially teenagers, are faced with this feeling every day. Growing up during the age of advanced computer technology and social media only exacerbates this problem. Many adolescent girls can relate to the fear of being bullied because they do not fit into the category of what is considered culturally beautiful. Marge Piercy uses her intense word choice to evoke emotion in readers about feminism, as well as the everyday struggle girls encounter trying to live up to society’s standards of…
As presented within the extremities of beauty, is the elusive refinement of the doll-like stature as unhealthy aspirations, borderline obsessions, is inspected in Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll”. The esoteric abilities placed within the internalized struggle of perfection is noted in its absurdities of paradoxical situations, of under and overstatements of tasks and figures in the crude irony of everyday life.…
On Being Barbie Why is it that just because my hair happens to be blonde rather than brown or black or even red that I become the subject of hateful or “funny” jokes? On July 9th in 1999, I was introduced to this big world full of people, drama, love, stereotypes, and tons of things that I had yet to understand. I was an innocent child starting in the world with years of learning ahead of me just like everyone else. However, there was one thing that set me apart from all of the other babies, and that was the color of my hair.…