Barbie Doll

When first glancing at the poem Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy, I knew the topic center around the unrealistic and superficial emphasis others might place on women, and women might place on themselves, to look so much like that plastic figure us girls all played with at one point in our lives. Upon reading, the poem is divided into stanzas, which first state the normality of a girlchild fawning over figurine dolls and all things girly. At the end of the first stanza however, there is a transition to a more harsh line: "You have a great big nose and fat legs." This diction chosen by the author suggest the often harsh commentary of others when one doesn't meet their expectations. Others have the vision of perfectly pretty barbie doll in their mind and will pick at girls who have any "flaws." The irony of the poem is that the girl is actually very intelligent, but may be weak enough to succumb to the pressures from society to conform and adapt as they would like her to. Doing everything she could she even would "exercise, diet, smile and wheedle," (Piercy,836). The idea that society can eat one alive and impact someone enough to change themselves is seen clearly when "her good nature wore out like a fan belt,"(Piercy,836). This simile shows the complete transformation in her entire personality, her character wasting away until all that is left is what others have made her to be. In the final stanza, the girl has given up herself to conformity, sacrificed herself for a false "ideal" image. This, ironically, causes her "death." This death is not literal but more referring to a death of her old self identity, and uniqueness, even that which was ridiculed. "She cut off her nose and her legs and offered them up,"(Piercy,836). Ironic that the characteristics that people think would make her more acceptable and better, in a sense kill her. Only is she pretty to others when she is not even herself. The final tone of this passage, marked by the line: "Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said." shows the irony that she isn't beautiful in others' eyes until she has "cut off her nose and her legs."