Reflective Essay - Barbie Doll PDF

Preview

Summary

Reflective essay on barbie doll poem...

Description

Reflective essay - Barbie Doll

Society has a hold on individual’s lives, especially on women. Women have to stop being themselves and become somebody else in order to please everyone else. Society tells us how to dress and act, having people be and look a certain way to be accepted. It is sad to see that this poem was written in 1969 by Marge Percy and forty one yeas later we realize that nothing has changed and the same barriers still exist. In the barbie doll poem written by Marge Percy, back then during her time, where the famous subject, to define beauty, in order to be labeled as beauty, someone had to be beautiful as in the person needed to have a great physique, slim body, thigh gap, flawless face, pointy nose, blonde and fair skin in order to be one, beautiful girl or woman as in the community’s preference. Girls who had the figure as described just now, were more likely to be dubbed as ‘Barbie Doll” where during the older times, Barbie Doll were the meaning of beauty and someone had to be exactly like the Barbie Doll in order to be called pretty.

The poem Barbie Doll is a powerful poem. The name carries a lot of meaning because a Barbie doll has long been an icon in society. Although it is a children toy, a Barbie doll exemplifies a woman with a perfect body exonerating beauty. This poem portrays a summary of a life since birth to the end of life at a funeral. The main character in the poem never had a chance to live life to the fullest because she was always trying to please others and be accepted. She never got the chance to be herself which led her to lead a life of unhappiness. This is a narrative poem written in a free verse style using four stanzas; the author used different tones throughout the “Barbie Doll” helping my understanding of the poem and showing what the author was trying to communicate to the reader.

The poem begins with the sentence ‘the girl child was born as usual’ trying to give the impression that she was born like any other normal child. The succeeding lines show that the girl child was ‘presented dolls that did pee-pee/ and miniature GE stoves and

iron.’ The toys provided to the girl child are symbols of feminism that the family wants the child grow up into. It represents the kind of work a woman is supposed to learn, the art of cooking and ironing. Moreover, she should also manage to look good in order to fit in the society. ‘Lipsticks the color of cherry candy’ were provided to the girl in order to look pretty, enhance her sexuality and cover any flaws if she had. The ‘magic of puberty’ in line 6 refers to the beginning of her puberty her menstrual cycle when her body begins to change. With the change of her body, comes criticism from one of her classmates, ‘you have a great big nose and fat legs.’ This is where the girl becomes conscious of herself and begins to question her appearance.

The second stanza describes the girl’s positive qualities as a human being. She had a healthy body, she was intelligent, ‘possessed strong arms and back’, ‘abundant sexual drive’ and many more. The girl is described intelligent and strong yet she is viewed negatively by others because of her big nose and fat legs. She was herself blind to her own positive qualities as she was too buy in trying to look good which will please others. ‘She went to and fro apologizing’ wanting herself to be appreciated. But everyone cares for her physical looks and not for her inner qualities, ‘everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs’. You can see this in the eleventh line.

The third stanza is about advices given to the girl by others about how to behave. ‘She was advised to play coy, exhorted to come on hearty, exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.’ Therefore, she was advised to lose weight if she is fat, smile even if she is unhappy and to charm people if she wants to fit in the society. The next lines show that the girl had enough from the society so she finally decides to end her life, ‘so she cut off her nose and her legs.’ The act of killing herself shows she was defeated by the society.

The final stanza follows the girl to her death and the poet cynically describes her ‘perfect nose.’ The casket in which she is kept is a big Barbie box which is her coffin. ‘Pink’ symbolizes feminist while ‘white’ symbolizes purity. She looks pretty in her death because she is covered with make-up, has a new nose. She is made to appear

like someone she was not in her real life. The poet’s sarcastic last lines- ‘ to every woman a happy ending’ show how the society poisons a woman’s thinking that in order to have a happy ending, women have to mold themselves into a perfect shape like a Barbie Doll as wanted by the society....