Marge Piercy, "Barbie Doll"

Marge Piercy's poem is quite depressing in its description of a young girl and the pressure of society. Everything about this story is upsetting. At the same time, nothing about it is unusual. Her depiction of a normal girl growing up and trying to fit the stereotype of what is "feminine" and "beautiful" is sad, scary, and anything but fiction. In our society it has become normal for a girl to be overly concerned with how she looks and what other people think of her. Eating disorders as an epidemic are growing at a frightfully rapid pace. In her poem, Piercy writes, "This girlchild was born as usual, and presented dolls that did pee-pee, and miniature GE stove and irons, and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy". This line alone shows how, as soon as a child is born they are immediately forced into gender stereotypes with certain expectations. All of the sudden the girl gets to a certain age when she realize she may not perfectly fit these stereotypes of what is the “perfect” female. Despite all of her redeeming qualities everyone only sees “fat nose and thick legs”, or at least that is how she feels. The end is the most upsetting part, when she feels as if she can do nothing more except kill herself, cutting off her nose and legs first. Although, this may not be a literal death, but only a symbolic death; showing that some women will go as far as destroying every part of themselves that is really them. Finally, she is dead and every part of her that is real is gone, only now is she considered “pretty” and finally everyone is happy. The overall vibe in this poem is definitely somber. I think this is a very important poem though and I really appreciate how effectively Piercy got her points across. Themes like the ones in “Barbie Doll” are often hard to address and most of the time avoided, so as upsetting as this poem is, it is also refreshing to see these issues being brought to the surface.