Analysis of Barbie Doll Essay

The Devastation of companionable Pressure One would conceptualize that growing up would be a fun, not a worry in the world, happy experience. Yes, that is the way it should be, only if thats not always the case, especi eithery for women. As girlfriends season into women they top they not only check to face the fact that theyre in a patriarchal smart set, besides also the influences and pressure they face in the social aspect of things, such as their looks and body image. There is so much competition amongst girls, especially when transitioning into a charwoman and through close of their adulthood.So instead of being able to enjoy c areer and absorbing the true quality of it, we are side tracked with superficial, stereotypical, shallow thoughts and images of how we think life is supposed to be. Although, whos to phrase whats right and whats wrong with the way we interpret things? Marge Piercy, who wrote the poem Barbie Doll, has a very strong view of how destructive socia l pressure ignore be to a girl through her transitioning stages into a woman. She expresses how the Barbie shuttlecock, the toy figurine that woman idealize, is, in fact, a method of corruption to a boyish girl.First and for most we must understand who the persona is in the poem, which is a woman, and more specifically Marge Piercy herself. She is observing a young girl going from Wolfe 2 childhood, adolescents, adulthood and then death in a roundabout way. Starting with the first stanza, of four, the persona explains of a young girl, and her compete with a doll, the Mattels Barbie doll to be precise. This doll is to be depict as tall, blonde hair, blue eyes and it has the perfect body.The girl, presented dolls that pee-pee/and miniature GE stoves and irons/ and wee lipsticks the color of cherry raisedy (2-4). The quarrel iron, stove, and lipstick are all play-things for the girl, but are also individuation markers. Such that the doll represents the ideal body image, the iro n and stove tells us what type of work is expected of the girl when she becomes an adult (keep in fountainhead that this poem was written in the nineteen seventies and that woman in the work force was still a very small percentage, gum olibanum women were still very domesticated) and the lipstick is to imply a sexual innuendo.In the withstand line in the first stanza the girl goes through puberty and no time is wasted before a classmate settle and criticizes her, You have a great big search and fat legs (6). expiration through puberty is a stage of growth. Adolescents become more informed of their social standing and sexual being. As we read further, the doll, she once compete with, will create a major impact on her in the aspect of her body image and the pressure she faces from her peers.In the second stanza we entrance how the woman is dissatisfied with herself even though she is healthy and tested agile/possessed strong arms and back/ abundant sexual tug and manual dex terity (7-9). The persona continues to say, She went to and fro apologizing/Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs (10-11). The traits that this woman possesses, is in every way enlighten however, she is so sure her physical traits are unacceptable to the culture.No point what she sees in the mirror or what she hears, this wont change her spirit about herself image. She has been brainwashed about her looks and she doesnt think she is good enough. She goes most apologizing to everyone about the person she has become, believing there is no way she can change, at least in a healthy manner. In the leash stanza we read how society is forcing the woman to change her healthy ways, physically, into something she isnt. She does what she can to prospect into society by, playing coy/ exhorted to come on hearty/ exercise, diet, smile and prate (12-14).She had so much pressure from every direction, she felt obligated to give and conform her body into what society viewed as ideal, which we know of as the Barbie doll toy. This idea was short lived. Instead of standing her grounds and accepting the item-by-item that she is, she drowns. Society got the best of her, Her good nature wore out/ like a fan belt (15-16). She gave up and paid the ultimate price to be accepted in society, she cut off her nose and her legs/ and offered them up (17-18). immediately that she has removed her flaws she temporarily relinquishes her depression, weakness, and anxiety. Now that she has met the, impossible, unrealistic, standard, she can permanently wash her existences outside and leave her shell of beauty behind. In the final Stanza, Piercy highlights the theme of the poem. scarcely put, women arent accepted into society unless they represent the ideal woman. Now that the woman is free of body flaws and has had a makeover, she can be accepted into her culture even though we know this isnt her true self.What must this say about the society she has been exposed to? In order to survive i n this specific culture, if were not perfect, is to become someone were not. So not only do we have to try to live up to a standard that is not comprehendible but we also have to be fake. In the middle of the last stanza Piercy explains, with the undertakers cosmetics varicolored on/a turned-up putty nose/dressed in a pink and white nightie (20-22). The woman now has the superficial , but perfect, looks. She is manipulated (physically) so she can finally be recognized.Letting a society make this woman frail and surrender to being her own someone shows a lack of values and morals within herself. Having our own opinions, life experiences and ethics make us who we are and if we were all the same or are held up to the same expectations what would life be like? Would we all act like robots? Clones? As the woman has been re-configured, shallow talks are amongst her, Doesnt she look pretty? everyone said/Consummation at last/To every woman a happy ending (23-25). Mission complete, she ac hieved her design she is pretty, unflawed, and looks like the ideal woman.