Analysis Of The Barbie Doll Poem English Literature Essay

Analysis Of The Barbie Doll Poem English Literature Essay Since its debut in 1959, an unconceivable molded plastic statuette named Barbie has become an icon for little girls everywhere. The product line is one of the most successful in the history of the toy industry by selling over a Billion Barbie dolls worldwide throughout history in over 150 countries, with Mattel, Barbie’s inventor claiming that at least three dolls are sold every second. Barbie however has caused some controversy; many parents from around the world have argued that Barbie’s ultra-slim figure represents a ridiculous standard for a body shape and could give their child the wrong idea about what their body type should be like as they grow up. In the poem Barbie Doll, the author Marge Piercy suggests that an American Barbie Doll typically presents herself as being the â€Å"perfect† woman and this leads to people being jeered at for their appearance and expected to have a Barbie-doll-like figure. The doll is symbolic of the ways that women themselves have been made to think that’s what they should look like and what they strive for. A Barbie Doll can mislead children at a very young age and feel pressured to look and act in ways such as this unreal figure. When the word Barbie comes to mind, one usually thinks of her unrealistic body type-busty with tiny waist, thin thighs, and long legs; yet less than two percent of American women can ever hope to achieve such measurements. Who wouldn’t want to be all of that? As we grow up we realize it is all unrealistic and unachievable but as a child and young adult it can be misleading to girls around the world. Piercy uses four short stanzas to provide a sarcastic but brutal review of the cultural and societal expectations that American culture places on children, particularly young girls. The entire poem is written with a tone of depression and sadness. The young girl lives her life wishing to be someone else and apologizing about her culturally unacceptable image, which i s actually normal and healthy. In Stanza one, the speaker sets the tone of the poem by starting with a happy beginning, describing the girl playing with her new Barbie doll and how it can do everything such as pee-pee on its own and has her own mini sized appliances such as GE stoves and iron; which symbolize the duties an ideal mother is thought to perform. She wears makeup that represents confidence: â€Å"wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy† (Piercy 236). The red lipstick shows how sexuality is introduced to the child too early in life. All of these things mentioned are qualities that any girl would want to have. The doll presents an idealized image of the body. Line five is about what happens to a girl when they hit puberty; you gain weight and your features get bigger; â€Å"Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:/you have a great big nose and fat legs† (236). â€Å"The magic of puberty† (5) may be a sarcastic way of describing the maturing of a young woman. Nobody wants to go through that and would rather stay perfect and look like a Barbie doll.