Introduction
[Hook] Barbie doll; the molded plastic statuette has become an icon for little girls across the world since its debut. From 1959, the product line of Barbie doll has recorded huge sales in the toy industry. [Problem] Unfortunately, Barbie has created controversies over the unrealistic ultra-slim figure presented by the doll which affects the perception of children about their bodies. [Persona’s attitude] The persona in the poem; Marge Piercy disapproves the societal implications of the female body which expect them to have flawless physical beauty just like Barbie doll. [Thesis fact] Today, people put so much social expectations young women and their physical appearance. [Thesis claim] The society defines ideal girls by wanting them to look and behave in certain mannerisms. [Thesis implications] The implication is that women that do not meet the expectations are not considered ideal, and further, the expectations influence women to strive and look for what is expected of them.
Body
Marge uses four short stanzas to give a critical review of American culture and their expectations on young girls. The whole poem describes a young healthy and normal girl that regrets her unacceptable image that does not meet the societal expectations. The poem starts with a happy beginning; however, problems begin with the ‘the magic of puberty’ where girls get scared of descriptions such as ‘fat legs’ and ‘big nose.’ Thus, girls rather have the perfect looks like that of Barbie doll. The descriptions show that the society is more interested in a perfect looking girl as opposed to the inside of a girl. The society is judgmental and ironically focuses on the appearance rather than abilities. The expectations are detrimental and may lead to self-esteem issues to girls that do not meet the expectations of the society.
The persona incorporates the use of different tones to make the poem interesting as well as show the struggles of a woman to be like Barbie doll. There are varied tonal variations in the poem. For instance, there is the use of sarcasm, depression, sadness, struggle, neutral tone, and death. Sarcasm is used in line twenty-four where she says ‘to every woman a happy ending.’ The line describes the scenario where a young girl’s thoughts were turned down by the society so that she took measures to transform her looks to be like that of Barbie doll and have a happy ending. The tone is critical to understanding the societal obsession towards specific shapes and looks from young girls which have a detrimental effect that can result in them committing suicide. Physical appearance is an outward character, and while societies focus on it, they forget the inner beauty of an individual. Superficial looks that societies insist on are not the only factors that young girls need for them to be happy.
Marge Piercy uses critical word choice to emphasize the theme of her poem. She wisely and sometimes uses unusual words in the relatively short poem. As the poem begins, Piercy uses the word ‘girlchild’ to refer to the newly born baby girl. The poet combines the two words, yet she had an option of using one word like ‘girl.’ The combination was necessary to show the innocence of a girl when compared to adults. The innocence of a girl is usually altered as she grows to be a teenager. She will realize what society expects from her and make an effort to meet the expectations. If a girl is not able to meet these expectations, she will commit suicide. Thus, society plays a critical role in influencing young girls to have looked and be perfect yet some of these physical appearances and impossible to attain.
The poet’s description of Barbie doll’s image was critical as it facilitated the understanding of the culture in the present society. The use of clear imagery makes readers more compassionate on a young girl that is forced to change looks to meet the society's expectations. Line 2-4 presents Barbie doll which ‘can do pee-pee, it has the color of cherry candy for lipstick, and uses miniature GE stoves and iron.’ The description shows societal expectations of a typical girl. The wee lipsticks and the color show that makes is essential for all young girls as it increases their sexuality and good looks. The irons and stoves are symbolically used to imply the house chores that girls are expected to perform. Pee-pee is used to show the kind of exercises that young girls are expected to do to maintain their good looks. Additionally, Marge uses imagery in line 7-9 to describe an intelligent girl with good characteristics ‘she was healthy, tested intelligent/ possessed strong arms and back.’ Unfortunately, the good characteristics were not enough if a girl is not physically attractive. Evidently, the society contributes to problems that girls face by not accepting them for who they are and ignoring the physical look factor.
Conclusion
Barbie doll has successfully displayed the elements of societal expectation on young girls. The poet was thoughtful and thorough in explaining how society controls how young girls behave, eat and dress. The society has given a description of the ideal girls and those that do meet the expectations are rejected. The societal expectations are more focused on the superficial appearance and ignore the inner beauty of women. As a result, those that do meet the expectations fall into depression and face low self-esteem issues. Further, the expectation is the reason why some girls suffer from anorexia as they try to maintain Barbie’s figure. Extreme points happen when girls commit suicide for failing to meet society’s expectations. Barbie doll and societal expectations on girls is, therefore, one of the reasons for problems that young girls face regarding their physical appearance.
Works Cited
Piercy, Marge. Barbie Doll. Red Mountain Tribe, Incorporated, 1971.
