Cultural Expectations In Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll

The artistic piece displays an over-weight middle-aged woman who feels a sense of hopelessness and disgust towards her own body and its imperfections. As a viewer of Saville’s work, it appears that the artist is telling a story about how women like herself are viewed by the rest of society and the impact it has on their self-esteem. Saville is explaining to the viewer that women have become pressurized into altering the natural appearances in order to conform to the accepted ideals of falsified beauty held by

In both poems “Barbie Doll’ and “homage to my hips” the speakers focused on the same idea but had different ways of expressing those ideas. In the poem “Barbie Doll” written by Marge Piercy shows how a young girl is affected by the idea of a “perfect” body that society thinks a girl should have. A Barbie doll is a toy that young girls play with. Barbie is an unrealistic way of how a young girl should look and can ultimately lower one’s self-esteem. The company that makes Barbie decided that it would be beneficial for young girls to see the different body images one can have. On the other hand, in the poem “homage to my hips” the speaker Lucille Clifton is proud and appreciative of her hips. She is able to go against the standard norm of how society wants girls to look and gives her hips the importance that they are actual people themselves. Although “Barbie Doll” and “homage to my hips” have a similar theme while the poets used a different structure and literary devices to portray how society sees a young girls’ body image.

The characteristics of a “perfect” woman have clearly changed over time, and The Courtier proves this throughout conversations in the third volume. Some desired qualities are common to both the courtier and the court

The author shows us that despite her attractiveness and exquisiteness, she may merely be deemed a shallow, secretive and opportunistic person.

“Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy is about a girl who is a normal child growing up; playing with dolls, miniature kitchen items and pretend make-up. It quickly takes an interesting turn when a pubescent child makes fun of her nose and legs and she was advised to exercise and diet despite the fact that she was intelligent and healthy. The poem continues on by the girl cutting her legs and nose and a bizarre visual of her laying in a casket with an ending that states “to every woman a happy ending”( Piercy 791). This poem was written by Piercy in 1969 a year in which many women liberation groups were forming and the breaking of womanly roles was taking place. The poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy,

The hardships the young girl faces ultimately leads to her death, which Piercy describes as an "happy ending" (Piercy 25). This seems ironic because death is not something to be considered joyful, especially when one is being bullied and cast out of society. It is also ironic because everyone finally thinks she is pretty once she is dead: "Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said" (Piercy 23). It is horrible to think that it takes a tragedy, such as death, to get everyone to stop and pay attention to someone who was not accepted in society. This poem has a negative tone because of the extreme measures that this girl takes in order to be accepted by society, even if that means taking her own

It’s ironic that this particular word is used because puberty is actually a stage of emotional crisis’. A hurtful remark was made towards the child, and she was described as having a "big nose and fat legs." The second stanza also begins with the subdued tone mentioning the girls positive aspects, such as being "healthy…intelligent…strong." These specific details are usually related to the male. Once again, the gender characteristics play as an underlying factor. These qualities were not good enough for a woman if they were not beautiful. The stanza then takes a turn like the first turning away from the simplicity. The girl "went to and fro apologizing," while everyone still saw "a fat nose on thick legs." Society places women into the mold where they begin to put on a facade and apologize for their "misfortunes." In the third stanza, the girl was "advised to play coy…(and) smile." Women are once again pressured to act in a way that is unreal, like a "barbie doll." The "fan belt" mention in this stanza is used as imagery to describe how one’s facade can wear out over time, as hers did. She "cut off her nose and her legs," in response to this. The character Nora in "A Doll’s House," is a perfect example of how women are like dolls and do what they are told or what society expects of them. It is only in the last stanza where the girl is dead and has "consummation at last." She is finally given a compliment when someone said,

In the beginning, Connie’s character is one of innocence, self-absorption, and shallowness. Oates describes Connie as a fifteen-year-old girl who has “a quick, nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors and check other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right” (Oates 157). In this description, Connie’s dynamic character acts shallow and is self-absorbed. She places her values on her physical appearance and in her friends’ acceptance. Connie “knew she was pretty and that was everything” to her (158). Connie bases her self -worth on her looks and in the values of her friends’ perception of her.

Under society’s customs for decades, young women have found themselves immersed in the pressure and anticipation to have exemplary bodies. Nearly every young woman prefers to be slim, have a perfectly shaped body, that is beautified by applying pounds of makeup to their face but does not appear ridiculously overdone. Who’s responsible for these measures imposed on young women? When a young girl picks up the model on the cover of Vogue being called flawless, naturally it’s easy for her to then aspire to be a real-life imitation of the that model. These companies produce magazine covers shown with girls’ images daily. As if keeping the perfect body wasn’t hard enough, our culture also forces girls into the forever expanding world of composition, however, body image is a surging subject for young girls. Advertisements and pictures of lean female models are all over. Young women are measured and perplexed by their physical appearances with attire intended to raise their physical structures; social media, magazines, the society, marketing campaigns, advertisements, and the fashion gurus add to a strand of excellence.

From the time they are born, girls are influenced by society as to who they should be, how they should look, and how they should act. Americans believe that women should be to a certain standard; pretty, feminine, and especially, thin. The pressures derive from family, media, and friends. Marge Piercy’s poem, “Barbie Doll” depicts a girl who was never recognized for her character and spent her life trying to be accepted for who she was, rather than how she looked.

The Poem “Barbie Doll (1969)” by Marge Piercy describes the life of a young girl who fell victim to society’s idea of beauty. Marge Piercy was a known social activist and uses this poem to bring attention to serious issues facing young females in society. “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy is a narrative poem; the poem is written in free verse. The author selects a free form of poetry and other devices to help get her point across.

It 's not a mystery that society 's ideals of beauty have a drastic and frightening effect on women. Popular culture frequently tells society, what is supposed to recognize and accept as beauty, and even though beauty is a concept that differs on all cultures and modifies over time, society continues to set great importance on what beautiful means and the significance of achieving it; consequently, most women aspire to achieve beauty, occasionally without measuring the consequences on their emotional or physical being. Unrealistic beauty standards are causing tremendous damage to society, a growing crisis where popular culture conveys the message that external beauty is the most significant characteristic women can have. The approval of prototypes where women are presented as a beautiful object or the winner of a beauty contest by evaluating mostly their physical attractiveness creates a faulty society, causing numerous negative effects; however, some of the most apparent consequences young and adult women encounter by beauty standards, can manifest as body dissatisfaction, eating disorders that put women’s life in danger, professional disadvantage, and economic difficulty.