Barbie Doll Case

Barbie Doll

The young girl in this poem never had a chance to live life to the fullest because she was always trying to satisfy others. She never had the opportunity to be herself, which made her live a life full of unhappiness. Through her anxiety and desperation, this girl chose to live a life constrained by rules that she believed will lead her to true happiness. The catastrophe of this plan resulted in a truth that she is unable to handle. The immense amount of weight placed on this girl trying to look and act the part that society expected of her, untimely leading to her death. She is unable to see any good qualities she may posses. When she would look in the mirror all she could focus on was a great big nose and fat legs. As a result of the world telling her she needs to look a certain way in order to be attractive. She becomes self-conscious of herself. The pressure to change to the world's ideal image distorted the image of her true self to a point where she could not see anything positive about the way she looked. The belief that she is unattractive leads her to become consumed with perfection. In order to reach her main goal she lives according to rules "advised to play coy, exhorted to come on hearty, exercise, diet, smile, and wheedle." (Piercy 12-14) When the pressure becomes too much and everything wears on her, the truth that she can never be what society sees as perfect is too much for her to handle. She tries to ignore her flaws in one last final attempt, but is not able to achieve her lifelong goal of satisfying society. As she lies in a casket "with the undertaker cosmetics painted on and a turned-up putty nose" (Piercy 20-21), onlookers comment on how pretty she is- the comment that cost her life.

In this poem is about the discussion of the sexist social society of the world. Women are judged from the start of youth to the day they die. A Barbie doll has become the perfect picture of what a female should look like, which pressures woman to achieve these absurd goals of the world. Society values beauty over almost any other value one may have. The mixed imagery and ironic tone of the poem disapprove the female system and gender discrimination of the modern world. This so-called "perfect" body in this poem overemphasizes the "simple" unachievable for most women. When in truth only a very small percentage of the female population would ever be able to live up to this stereotype. Woman's effort to compare with Barbie's appearance is a distraction from originality. From the time girls are born through puberty they are raised to fit into a specific gender role. Little girls are expected to grow up become perfect, feminine beauties created to bare children, care for their homes, husbands, and social lives.

From the moment that this girl was born, she was represented as a doll that made pee-pee, had a miniature GE stove to cook upon, and with wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy. Her seemingly innocent childhood toys were teaching her how she should live her life as she grew up. Thus exposing her, perhaps unknowingly, forming her to the ideals and expectations of society. As the child enters into her teen years, she is expected to look like a Barbie Doll, but does not. "Then in the magic of puberty, classmates said: You have a great big nose and fat legs."(Piercy 5-6) The mixture of cruelty from her piers and the low self-esteem is presented by the lack of response by the girl. In life she struggled with the