Response To Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll

The short story is rather entertaining because you have to think past what the author writes, and create for yourself your own depiction of what the meaning is. One example is when Mrs. Mallard says, “free, free, free!” (Chopin). The reader would expect Mrs. Mallard to be upset at the loss of her husband, but in fact, she is actually feeling relief from it. Mrs. Mallard is happy because she is now free from living under her husband. Another example of Kate Chopin’s usage of irony is at the end when its said, “ they said she died of heart disease- of joy that kills” in a since they are right.

Body and soul free!” (525) You are intrigued to know why Louise would be joyful seeing that her husband has died. By the end of the story you see the irony that she doesn’t die of happiness, but rather dies of sorrow knowing that she isn’t free anymore. In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin uses strong irony to emphasize her theme of the unhappiness of marriages during this time. Irony is evident throughout the story, rather than the last five paragraphs, as irony plays out in the sense that, after learning about Brentley’s death, Louise retreats and becomes joyful. “She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her” (525).

Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters find several items that were “women things”, such as an unfinished quilt and a bird in a box with its neck snapped. These items are key symbols, not only to the play, but to the motive of the murder. Mrs. Wright never revealed that her husband had done cruel things to her, but her husband was known to be harsh at times. Mrs. Hale brings up how Mrs. Wright lived before she married, “I heard she used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that-oh, that was thirty years ago.” (Glaspell) After marrying to John, Minnie did not have a multitude of freedoms as before.

This poem is a sharp contrast to the one that I first chose to read, and has a more somber theme to it. The theme that I saw most displayed in this poem was that although your life may not make a huge difference to the world, your life could make a huge difference to one person. The woman described in the poem was, “A Maid whom there were none to praise/ and very few to love” (Wordsworth 491). This woman was beautiful, describe as, “A violet by a mossy stone”, but few people loved her and so when she died, no one was around to care except the narrator. When she died, the narrator sums up his feelings by saying, “But she is in her grave, and, oh/ the difference is to me!” (Wordsworth 491).

To me, both stories are very similar; tales where the “blind” husband is made a cuckold of by one of his close friends. The reason why the Wife of Bath’s prologue is last is because she seems so unhappy. The fact that her tale was about her wishes, proves that she is not content with her life. She has yet to be loved as more than just a pretty face or a wealthy noble. This tale is known for the “Dorigen’s Complaint,” where she talks about all of the women through history who have killed themselves when in a position where they might lose honor.

She just didn 't want to lose another, probably last, loved one in her life. This emotion had come from her love towards Homer but he had turned her down and broke her heart. The town feels bad for her before they found out about the death and kept pitying her for her loneliness she lived in. With that, she also got irritated because they didn 't know the full story. They just judged from

Towards the middle of the episode, you can hear a nurse referencing the patient and says “If it were mine, I bury myself in a grave someplace”. (“The Eye of the Beholder”) During another time you can hear the patient; Ms. Tyler say “I just want to be like everyone else.” (“The Eye of the Beholder”) As highlighted in this episode, the idea social conformity was relevant in the 60’s and is still relevant today. Depending upon what society says is pretty is what everyone believes is beautiful, therefore, Ms. Tyler believes that she was not beautiful enough. (“The Eye of the

From women being portrayed as property to enabling women to take a stance on their freedoms. “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin conveys the message of how the married 19th-century woman felt. Chopin provided an insight of how the females were powerless when it came to their independence, how women were joyful about the death of a husband since it was the only way out of a controlling marriage, and the amount of dread that the women endure during a marriage. Mrs. Mallard could signify most of the married women of the 19th century. Chopin’s story displays that women are human just as much as men and that they should not be treated as belongings, but rather as a human, especially in

However, her newfound content does not last as she later overhears the girls discussing her family’s friendship with the wealthy Laurences. One girl exclaims, “Mrs. M has made her plans, I dare say, and will play her cards well”. (Alcott 92) Meg is both hurt and furious that the girls would consider her superficial, and the flowers she had generously offered them before now only made her feel foolish and over-trusting. Flowers also convey the difficulties of poverty whenever the March sisters use them to complement their old and worn-out clothes.

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