Comparative Essay between "White Lies" by Natasha Trethewey and “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy.
In the poems "White Lies" by Natasha Trethewey and “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy, the authors present struggles of girls in their lives. "White Lies" talks about a girl who struggles to acknowledge her true identity as she is a half-white and half-black. The young girl is untrue to herself and lives in the deceptive of pure white girls. Though a bit different, “Barbie Doll” also portrays a young girl’s struggle with her body image. The speaker in the poem is an observer who watches as the girl struggle with the feelings of not being accepted because of her body looks. In this comparative essay, I will demonstrate how both authors of the poems use their characters to address how individual’s inner identity can be at war with the larger society.
In "White Lies," the author who happens to be the character in this poem uses color imagery that portrays her background. Trethewey was born to a black mother and a white father who lived in Mississippi at the time when interracial marriage was considered illegal by the race-sensitive society. The use of different colors as she says, “light-bright, near-white/high-yellow, red-boned/in a black place” simply portrays her skin color tone (3-5). From this poem, we can tell from her description that she is the girl she refers to. This poem portrays how the society has affected our conduct by viewing the whites to be superior to the blacks. The girl’s lying about her background is because she feels ashamed of it. She even denies her heritage to the world since her skin is light-bright. She calls her lies “little lies” because they were actually not meaningful. She lies about where she lives and where she gets her dresses from. This lie is purified by her mother who washes her with ivory soap. But one wonders how ‘White lies’ as she calls it can be purified with White soap! Similarly, in the poem “Barbie Doll,” the society does not accept people who are not “ideal women.” The girl in the poem tries everything to gain acceptance from the society but those around her do not give her the acceptance she needs. For instance, we can see the girl dressed in a pink and white nightie, the colors associated with femininity and purity. The speaker says, “A turned-up putty nose, /dressed in a pink and white nightie.” (21-22). The putty nose can be interpreted as the ‘perfect’ nose of a girl. These symbols indicate what the society expects of a perfect woman. Through figurative language, Piercy reveals to the reader the changes that the girl has to go through so that she can become accepted by the society. Piercy says, “Her good nature wore out /like a fan belt” (15-16).
The two poems in a similar manner also show how being an outsider or part of the marginalized group can give one a deeper understanding of his/herself and the larger society in which they are part of. The girl in "White Lies" realizes that acceptance in the society she lives in depends on one’s skin color and she starts making ‘white lies’ to seek this acceptance. She says, “I could easily tell the white folks/that we lived uptown” (7-8). This shows how the girl began hiding her socio-economic status and feigned her identity as a well-off white girl. While in class, the girl refuses to speak and remains silent in order to retain her white identity in presence of her fellow white girl. “Now/we have three of us in the class” (20-21). The reality downs to the girl when her mother decides to wash her with ivory soap so as to purify her. “Is to purify/and cleanse, your lying tongue.” This is the turning point that makes the girl abandon the black side of her character. She swallows the suds and assumes that she will be cleansed and purified from inside. The girls embrace her white side by washing any black left inside her using the suds. She realizes that the ‘white lies’ are not created by the society but by her within herself. Likewise, in the poem “Barbie Doll,” the author of stanza two sees the girl as a perfectly healthy girl from inside but who outwardly is not accepted by the society. In the third stanza, Piercy explains how the society forcefully turns the perfectly healthy girl into unhealthy being by forcing her to change her looks. In the end, the girl realizes that it is only by becoming perfect that the society can accept her. Piercy writes, “Doesn’t she look pretty? Everyone said. /Consummation at last. /to every woman a happy ending” (23-25). This shows that the society is now ready to accept the girl because she has been made over although she is not what she should be.
The main themes of these two poems are similar in that they both talk about girls struggling to acknowledge their identities in a society that does not accept them. The two girls have to find their true identity and change in accordance with the society so that they can be accepted. Finally, they are forced to pay the ultimate price and leave what is not their part so that they can be accepted by those around them. They realize that the society can only accept them if they change.
Works Cited
Piercy, Marge. Barbie Doll. Red Mountain Tribe, Incorporated, 1971.
Trethewey, Natasha. "White Lies." Domestic Work (2000).
