Barbie Doll by
Marge Piercy exemplifies a hyperbole but she gets her point across very
clearly. Her message bluntly states that girls will do anything to achieve the
perfect image. Barbie dolls have more recently been scrutinized for their “perfectness”.
A Barbie is what most girls desire to look like and in this desire, girls have
gone to great lengths. This does not mean they would “cut off [their] nose and
[their] legs” but girls would and do get plastic surgery, undergo weight loss
procedures along with dieting and exercising which can often lead to eating
disorders.
The
image of the perfect woman is displayed in magazines as well by edited models. Its
unrealistic features compare to Barbie and are mirrored by the poem’s
ridiculousness. A sly bit of irony is used to show just how ridiculous methods
of achieving the Barbie look can be. In fact, Piercy implies that it is
impossible to attain perfection until one is dead. For after she was dead “[everyone said:] doesn’t
she look pretty?” This particular line shows how messed up society is, for
their definition of pretty is Barbie.
By using
the term “girlchild” Piercy sets up her whole poem to criticize the stereotypes
about women. The first stanza in particular describes what girls are expected
to do, “as usual”. The shift in tone mirrors the shift in age, for at puberty
the “girlchild” becomes abnormal. This is when she deviates from what is
expected of girls. This is the moment she becomes a woman. The image of a real,
imperfect, girl with a “big nose and fat legs” contradicts that of a Barbie. In
the end, it did not matter that she “was healthy, tested intelligent” excreta,
all that mattered was that her looks were imperfect. When she did become “perfect”,
that all people commented on.
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