Poetry Analysis and Research on Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy PDF

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Looking deeper and analyzing the societal standards that can limit and hinder one's life in Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll”....

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1 The Limiting Societal Standards in Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” Marge Piercy’s poem “Barbie Doll” was written in the 1970s during the second wave of the Women’s Rights Movement. The poem portrays the life of a young girl growing up in America and her experiences measuring to societal standards. The poem follows the girl’s life chronologically showing the impact of gender roles as she ages. Piercy uses symbolism, characterization, imagery, diction, and style to highlight the destructive expectations concerning women’s roles in America. Piercy uses the motif a Barbie doll throughout the poem to guide the readers to fully comprehend the expectations placed upon women. The first three lines emphasize that from early childhood women are trained on the roles they should aspire to meet social and societal expectations. The “girlchild” receives “dolls…/ miniature GE stoves and irons,” defining the stereotypical roles of women to be a mother and housewife (Piercy 1-3). This emphasizes the patriarchal society the girl lives in and its expectations that women hold the role of “being a good housekeeper, a sexual partner… and a loving and selfless mother” (Merril 7). The toys presented to the girl idolize the role of women in culture as flawless, taking on the roles of caring for the family by cooking, cleaning, and reproducing. Likewise, the motif of toys the girl receives represents the stereotypical appearance of a young woman. The title “Barbie Doll” provides an image resembling a doll who has already become associated with the ideal appearance of a woman. Then the “wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy” provides the requirement to be admirable and perfect even if that means covering up the natural beauty with makeup (Piercy 4). For young women to fit into society, they are required to be thin, beautiful, desirable, attractive, and flawless. However, the moment one classmate mentions how the girlchild has “a great big nose and fat legs,” it reveals the girl

2 doesn’t fit the model and is solely being judge based upon her physical appearances (Piercy 6). This experience underscores that women are being defined by their physical appearances rather than their personality and talents (Darity 113). Piercy uses the motif of a Barbie doll to demonstrate that society has created an image of a perfect female and won’t accept women if they do not reach the physical standards. The characterization used throughout the poem compares the physical qualities to the ordinary expectations of a young girl. In the second stanza it states, “she was healthy, tested intelligent,/ possessed strong arms and back,/ abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.” The natural characteristics of this girl are more comparable to those of a young man. Men are expected to be intellectual, strong, and independent possessing all the physical attributes to be in power and control (Media Education Foundation). Through this characterization, the readers see that girls feel sorrowful for not meeting the expectations of society even though they cannot control the features they possess. This comparison continues to highlight a society merely focusing on the outward features rather than the health and good traits the girl holds. So often in advertisements women are used as a beautiful face to draw attention rather than for any connection to the product. Piercy continues to describe the attributes of what would define a girl who is acceptable and beautiful in the fourth stanza. Girls are “advised to play coy…/ come on hearty,/ exercise, diet, smile, and wheedle” portraying a dependent nature upon men (Piercy 12-14). This juxtaposition of the girl’s actual characteristics in the previous stanza and the expected traits highlights the changes she undergoes to become flawless in the eyes of society. Piercy is depicting that society wants women to aspire to be shy even if they have to portray a false self, strong, and cheerful simultaneously. Through this stanza and the idealized characterization, it

3 exposes that culture is looking for women’s appearances to mimic a pageant girl who is always happy, charming, thin, and perfect. Not only does Piercy use characterization but also stark imagery to portray the emotional toll and desperation of girls striving to measure up to feminine ideals. Piercy depicts the girl wearing out “like a fan belt” under the strain. This direct comparison illustrates that the girl’s true nature was disposable and of little value (Piercy 16). The young girl is just another object that needs to be changed to reach perfection and perform its function. The poem climaxes with a picture of the young woman “in the casket displayed on satin…/ with… cosmetics painted on,/ a turned up putty nose,/ dressed in a pink and white nightie”; she has finally reached the goal of feminine perfection but at the cost of her life. Her true self replaced with fake and unrecognizable features, yet she is honored in satin. This imagery highlights the desperation girls have to reach acceptance and resemble a Barbie doll. Additionally, Piercy uses diction emphasizing the role and expectations of women in the twentieth century. She uses child talk like “pee-pee”, “wee”, and “nightie” providing a connection from babies to women (Piercy 2-21). Individuals use these words when talking to a baby or young child focusing the reader to think about women in an inferior role in society. It infers that women have very little value outside of the household; women needed to be a “wife obedient to her husband and dedicate her life to domestic pursuits” and “be under the Husband’s Government” (Merril 1-7). Prior to gaining the right to vote in the 1920s in the first wave of the Women’s Rights Movement, women were viewed as property rather than human. In the 1970s when this poem was written, women were fighting for full equality to men in all aspects of life (Darity 113). This choice of diction provides additional information about the force of society’s mandate to women to fully submit to men, limiting any aspirations and individual expression.

4 Piercy uses a free verse structure allowing the narrator to simply relate the girl’s life. The four stanzas provide a clear transition in the experiences of the girl. First, the societal expectations of girls are introduced through a happy set of child’s gifts, but the stanza ends with a conflict from the judgment from others. Similarly, she starts the next stanza describing the young girl as happy and healthy; however, she can’t fit in because of her appearance. Next, the narration portrays the young girl’s efforts to compensate for her physical characteristics and try to win the approval of society but it gets too tiring. Lastly, the poem ends with the girl finding a resolution that costs her life to gain acceptance and beauty. The structure of the poem allows for it to be a story and draw attention to the life of the girl rather than the rules of poetry. Tellingly, Piercy does not even follow the rules of structural poetry demonstrating the brokenness of the system and perhaps subtly rebelling against the dictates of other expectations. Overall, Piercy’s poem, “Barbie Doll” focuses on the power of social norms to define a woman’s beauty, aspiration, and value in a rigid and crushing way. It shows how pervasive and yet unnoticed these standards can be putting emphasis on how society is programming girls. These young women are taught to value the roles of marriage and motherhood with a single definition of beauty. Ultimately the image of a plastic ever-smiling and perfectly proportioned doll, Barbie, is a stand in for a normal large-nosed but strong and smart young woman who succumbs to the pressure to conform. Too often the gender roles defined by culture causes individuals to deny their own personhood and limit their aspirations rather risk rejection or ridicule. This issue gained such visibility, that in the 1970s when this poem was written, women began to vocally push for equal rights, workplace equality, and educational opportunities (Darity 113). Piercy is able to use the motif of toys, characterization of the girlchild, imagery, diction, and poetic style to place an emphasis on the limiting norm society has for men and women.

5 Works Cited Darity, Jr., William A., “Women’s Liberation.” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd ed., vol. 9, Macmillan Reference USA, Detroit, MI, 2008, pp. 112-116. Gale EBooks Media Education Foundation. “Tough Guise: Violence, Media & the Crisis in Masculinity.” 1999. Online video clip. Merril D. Smith, Women’s Roles in Seventeenth-century America. Westport. Greenwood Publishing Company Group, Inc., 2008 Piercy, Marge "Barbie Doll." Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 12th ed., New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 2016, pp. 725-726....