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Beauty Standards In Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll

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The tone of, “Barbie Doll,” by Marge Piercy is dark and sarcastic. The darkness of the poem became evident when her beautiful features disappeared and were replaced with self-hatred, “Her good nature wore out,” (Line 15). This provokes feelings of sadness, as the readers see a young girl starting to believe the insults of her tormenters, and start to loathe herself. The tone is again seen when the writer describes of the girl figuratively cutting, “off her nose and legs,” (Line 17), ultimately alluding to suicide. Piercy used sarcasm in this poem to link issues regarding beauty standards in the real world. It was only until after her suicide, when the undertaker put on the girl’s makeup, and gave her a new nose, that everyone acknowledged

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