Marge Piercy Barbie Doll Analysis

Launched on March 1959, the Barbie doll is a toy that was first put on display in New York. It quickly garnered a lot of attention with the target audience of the creators, young girls. This doll was different than its previous dolls because it was a doll that was an ideal representation of a woman. Thus allowing young girls to use their imagination to create and act-out what this doll’s life is like and what their future would potentially be. To successfully understand this toy, we must think like C Wright Mills, a sociologist who asks to use our sociological imagination, the intersection of one’s biography and history. This artifact reflects and perpetuates the dominant ideology of how to perform your gender the “right” way in the early 1960s. I will argue this demonstrates West and Zimmerman’s concept of “doing gender” which is clarified with Judith Butler’s concept of socialization of gender.

The poem, "Barbie Doll," written by Marge Piercy tells the story of a young girl growing up through the adolescence stage characterized by appearances and barbarity. The author uses imagery and fluctuating tone to describe the struggles the girl is experiencing during her teenage years, and the affects that can happen. The title of this poem is a good description of how most societies expect others, especially girls to look. Constantly, people are mocked for their appearance and expected to represent a "barbie-doll"-like figure. Few are "blessed" with this description. The female gender is positioned into the stereotype that women should be thin and beautiful. With this girl, the effects were detrimental. The first stanza describes the

A little girl’s world begins as such a wonderful place. Makeup, dresses, tea parties and prince charming are what little girls dream of. Marge Piercy uses a variety of poetic devises to convey the theme of stereotypes and the struggle girls face is brought to attention in this free verse twenty-five-line, open-form narrative poem titled “Barbie Doll.”

Just from looking at the title of the poem, we can see that the author believes society's expectations of women are unrealistic. A barbie doll is supposed to be a figure of a “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 at a young age what they are supposed to look like and how they are supposed to act. This is where girls are first introduced to their female roles in society. A doll is fake and made of plastic, incapable of being intelligent and having a mind of its own. These are the issues that Piercy addresses throughout her poem “Barbie Doll.”

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.

“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,

"To every woman a happy ending." Sarcastically spoken by Marge Piercy. Reality is society always put expectations on people since the beginning of time. Throughout history there had been individuals who stood up to society expectations. We all heard about the marches, revolutions, and speaking out to the community.

At a very young age, children are molded by their adult influences into what society perceives as normal or socially acceptable. Even before a baby girl is born, the mother is showered with pink clothes and gender-specific toys to announce to the world that there is a set role her daughter must fill to be accepted. However, as times have shown as of late, people are not clay figures that can just be manipulated as how others see fit. Marge Piercy's use of literary devices shape the theme of an adult-enforced patriarchy in her poem, "Barbie Doll". Piercy's distinct use of referring to the protagonist of the poem in line one as a "girlchild" help shape the reader's perception of the child (Piercy 533).

In Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll,” there is too many expectations from the world that want women to be “barbie dolls. ” There is an extraordinary want and need for women to be perfect on the outside. Piercy uses symbolism and irony to demonstrate how people perceive women in the poem and real world. First of all, Piercy uses symbolism to unfold the poem.

The poem Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy paints a picture of societal expectations. You can easily understand that Piercy expresses the view that the gender roles enforced by society are what shapes the differences between the sexes. She might also believe that it is particularly hard for women to behave in this society. The poem opens with an adolescent girl being introduced to dolls, lipstick, and other stereotypical “womanly” things at a very influential age.

The poem “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 thing they see when they look at her is her outside appearance and what society considers to be the flaws that she possesses. Although this was written in 1936 Piercy accurately describes the feeling of being defined or constricted by society to think, act, and look a particular way which is similar to that of todays society which is fueled by social media, where some find personal gratification and self confidence fueled from likes and retweets they receive.” Barbie doll “ is the perfect title for this poem because for the longest time a Barbie was a sign of something perfect and beautiful, a toy enjoyed by everyone and a conventional symbol for little girls all over the United States. Similarly the girl was conforming to be sort of like the Barbie doll in a way because of societal expectations and the want to be viewed in a particular light by ones peers.

With these three "N's", little girls would be prepared to remain at home and to care for and to raise the family. Barbie dolls, critics complained "make girls' less able to achieve the emotional preparation for being a wife and mother that they received from baby dolls" (Best). Critics were terrorized by what Ducille describes as, "Barbie's curvaceous, big busted, almost fully female body that summons not the maternal but the sexual, not the nurturant mother but the sensuous woman" (62). Barbie was a "titillating toy" (Ducille 62). "Barbie from the outset worked--at both dream and humdrum jobs" (Lord 48) instead of staying home to care for Betsy and Cathy.