Body Image In Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll

This term is loosely used to describe when young women want to have a physical appearance and lifestyle similar to Barbie. Most women that suffer this syndrome are pre teens and teenagers. Barbie has been a popular toy doll for just about fifty years now and has changed the image of what people see as 'beautiful '. Being a blonde, long legged, thin frame, busty female in this world is not very common. Women can come from many different shapes and sizes and no matter what females should

Marge Piercy’s “ Barbie Doll” establishes the character to be a young girl who hits the stage of puberty and is then subjected to people's hurtful words that destroy her body image. Before these words she seemed to be a normal little girl playing with all the right toys. The words spoken were with intent to help the girl change her physical appearance so she could be a better version of herself, but in the end the girl felt there was no other option. She could never make everyone happy. The last part of the poem shows how society's judgmental words can strip you of your innocence and leave you in a satin lined box six feet under.

As many other people in this world, Piercy suffered from depression. “She did not fit any image of what women were supposed to be like.” (“Marge Piercy: Biography”). Perhaps “Barbie Doll” had been written from her own personal experience to show what she had gone through as a teenager growing up in society? In Piercy’s biography, it says that, “She went from a pretty and healthy child into a skeletal creature with blue skin give to fainting.” (“Marge Piercy: Biography”). So, reading this, “Barbie Doll” had definitely been related to her experience.

In “Pretty Hurts” sang by Beyonce, the speaker was taught from a young age to care about appearances. Throughout the story the speaker struggles with herself, and she thinks she is not good enough. In the end she comes to realization, and shes says she is finally happy with herself. Between these two sources, the theme; ‘Everybody needs to learn that you are beautiful in your own way, and don’t need to live up to beauty standards’ is shown between the dynamic character of the speaker in “Pretty Hurts” and the motif/symbol of the two Barbies in “Barbie”. The themes of these sources are practically the same and revolve around the base idea of ‘beauty standards not defining us, and you are beautiful in your own way.

For many young girls the Disney princesses serve as idols. Nevertheless, not for every girl it is possible to identify with a princess. In this essay I am going to express the color symbolism in Disney princess movies and what causes this might have on young children, especially girls. Disney’s use of a binary color system in their princess movies has an impact on girl’s creation

Kristina Starr Professor McGhee English 152 23 September 2014 Insecurity In her poem “Barbie Doll”, Marge Piercy illustrates the way in which society sets unachievable standards for children, particularly young girls. In the beginning of the poem, the “girlchild” lives her life without a care in the world. As she advances into her teenage years, she is told how to act and how to look. Those around her pressure her to obtain a coquettish personality and a skinny body. Society influences the way many young girls feel about themselves, especially when they cannot live up to these unrealistic expectations.

The statement, “Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said: You have a great nose and fat legs” implies that the girl is coming of age. She is beginning to mature and her body is transforming into adolescent through puberty. Puberty changes the way she sees herself. Since the classmate makes the statement about her nose and legs, the girl has focus her attention on her self-image and she knows that her legs and nose are changing; however, she does not understand the changes. The girl sees her self-image as disgusting.

The “Barbie Doll” poem is an effective poem. The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the words “Barbie Doll” is one of my favorite childhood toys. The main character of this poem is a young girl who was born in a judgmental world. She never had the opportunity to feel satisfied or happy with herself. She was trying to please others and make a way for herself to accept and feel confident within.

In the poem “Barbie Doll”, written by Marge Piercy, there is a clear theme of the expectations of women in society. The poem starts by talking about a girl that was normal until she was judge when she hit puberty for having, “A great big nose and fat legs” (Piercy 533). This comment follows her for the rest of her life, until it is implied that she could no longer take the harsh criticism she felt from the world “her good nature wore out”, and because of this, she committed suicide “she cut off her nose and her legs/ and offered them up” (Piercy 534). Finally when she dies, everyone comments how pretty she looks, and the poem finishes with, “To every woman a happy ending” (Piercy 534). This line summarizes the theme that the poem was trying

This image is brought to everyone as soon as they turn on the television or go to the store and see a magazine. The idea of being beautiful is what many women strive, for that is what gave the poet Marge Piercy the idea for her poem “Barbie Doll”. Marge Piercy used being a woman and pressure of beauty during her time, of the 1970s, to bring about a poem that tells the story of a woman who has to change for society to be called pretty. The poem

In the novel, The Secret Life of Bees, I related to the character Lily Owens right at chapter one. In the first chapter of this novel, Lily was describing herself as a visual for readers. While Lily was briefly explaining her physical appearance, the line, “…Even the boys who wore their hair in ducktails dripping with Vitalis and carried combs in their shirt pockets didn’t seem to attracted to me, and they were considered hard up” (Monk Kidd 9), relates to many young girls. I, as a teenager, criticize myself very harshly just because a boy may not like me and that is what Lily is doing in this passage. I feel that Lily feeling this type of way and expressing it helped me to connect to her right from the beginning and put myself into her shoes

These standards society has on women and ideologies of being pure have immense influences in women’s lives. Society turns these standards into norms and soon women who don’t meet these norms stands out. Women fell the need to meet these norms with the hopes of not being