The poem Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy dramatizes the conflict between stereotyping and perfection within society. The title accentuates the theme of the poem; the doll symbolizes society’s interpretation of beauty and reflects how a girl’s ideas of this beauty shape her self-worth.
According to Steven Ratiner, author of Giving Their World: Conversations with Contemporary Poets, Piercy’s realistic interpretations of life experiences develop the themes in her poetry: “…her poems contain visions of a woman’s struggle to take responsibility for her own life…”
By comparing the young lady in the poem to a Barbie doll, Piercy reveals the irony of the title. Societies within America usually describe someone as beautiful if they are thin and have a perfect body like a Barbie Doll. Throughout the poem, we see that this girl is presented as a passive figure continually put down by society obsessed with set standards of perfection.
The speaker is aware of what is happening in this young girl’s life. They may be someone who knows her or an observer from afar.
However, the speaker is unaware of her feelings about what is happening. The poem is written in an open form, much like a Barbie storybook or movie. By using similes, symbols, and a fairy tale-like tone, Piercy creates a story starring a suicidal young girl instead of a Barbie – the glamorous sex symbol the girl is compared to throughout the poem. Each of the four stanzas shows different stages of the girl’s life and how peer pressure and stereotypes destroy her. The opening stanza describes how society expects any “girl-child” to spend her childhood.
It sets the tone with a happy beginning and a positive attitude. The protagonist is presented with gifts that any young girl would love to have: “dolls that did pee-pee” (2), “miniature GE stoves and irons,” as well as “wee lipsticks” (3-4). These items not only appeal to a young girl’s interests but also symbolize the gender role she is expected to fulfill from an early age. The dolls represent motherhood, while the GE stoves and irons characterize domestic duties typically associated with housewives. Lipsticks signify a glamorous woman who must always look good for her man and strive for perfection in every way.
According to society, girls are expected to conform to certain gender norms and enjoy activities deemed feminine,” much like a Barbie doll. However, as the poem progresses, the speaker takes a negative tone in the first stanza by using the word “magic” to describe puberty – a time when appearance becomes more important. This use of irony is notable because puberty is actually a pivotal moment for every young girl. During this time, her body undergoes significant changes and she compares her own self-image with what she sees around her – including representations of women such as Barbie, whom she may have played with in her childhood imagination.
During this time, a classmate made negative remarks about her looks: “You have a great big nose and fat legs” (6). Louise Deutsch believes that Piercy wrote “big nose and fat legs” as a “synecdoche for the whole body, if not the whole person” (1). These social constraints not only affect our behavior but also impact communication between the offending classmate, who has yielded to social pressures, and the girl. The offender unflatteringly compares the girl to his idea of feminine physique (Deutsch 1).
Stereotypes of how a woman should appear and behave have always been present in some shape or form. These ideals are implanted into girls’ minds at a young age and can cause significant harm in the future.
The second stanza of Barbie Doll” begins as normally as the first but quickly veers into a different meaning. The girl is described as “healthy, tested intelligent/ possessed strong arms and back” (7-8). However, all these positive traits are overshadowed by her appearance. She becomes completely consumed by them and fails to see her own qualities.
On the other hand, a Barbie doll is not portrayed as having muscular arms, a strong back, or being very intelligent. Barbie’s proportions are exaggerated and she appears rigid. She does not step out of line and simply smiles without speaking, doing whatever her puppeteer wants of her. Robert Perrin notes the melancholic rhythmic emphasis and depression cycle” of the line “She went to and fro apologizing” (87). This line conveys that the girl is convinced that “Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs” (11). For the first time in the poem, traits of the girl are given which provide a “countermovement” (Perrin 87).
This girl is trying to live up to the epitome. She has apologized and now wants to repair herself so she can be acceptable. This line re-emphasizes the ugliness of not measuring up to the standard of an ideal female, which is set by society. In the third stanza, Piercy transitions into adulthood. It seems as though the young girl is reaching out for help in order to match society’s Barbie-like expectations of her. She is advised to play coy, exhorted to come on hearty, exercise, diet, smile and wheedle (12-14).
The society is giving her advice” on how to appear attractive, so she is struggling to understand why people will not accept her for who she truly is. Social restrictions accepted by society put a lot of pressure on vulnerable young girls who, at heart, want to resist the influences of dominant culture (Perrin 84). The girl is searching for an answer that society refuses to provide. She must either conform to the Barbie-like norm or be herself and unhappy. She keeps striving for perfection until “Her good nature wore out / like a fan belt” (15-16).
She begins to lose her confidence, individuality, and state of mind. Most women in today’s society suffer from the same issues, so they mold themselves into somebody they aren’t, disguising themselves as what they think is satisfactory or rushing to grow up. The fan belt mentioned in this stanza is used as imagery to describe how one’s disguise” can wear out over time, as hers did. When it wears thin she loses all connection with the world: “so she cut off her nose and her legs/and offered them up” (17-18). Marge Piercy herself said: “All women are misfits. We do not fit into this world without amputations,” meaning girls have it harder in our society; they put on makeup and take drastic measures to change themselves just to fit in. At the end she achieves her perfection by becoming a “Barbie Doll”. The undertaker was able to use makeup to cover the pain and suffering this girl went through and placed her into the mold of a Barbie Doll. She gets makeup “painted” on; she is nothing more now but a doll with “a turned-up putty nose” (21) molded in and dressed in a pink and white nightie – colors associated with girls and Barbie dolls. She was finally able to sculpt herself into the shape of the perfect woman. “‘Doesn’t she look pretty?’ everyone said.” (23) It is only in the last stanza where the girl is dead that she has “consummation at last.” (24) The theme is highlighted by this last ironic statement: “‘To every woman a happy ending.’” (25) For a happy ending is accomplished in this ‘story’ only when the girl has achieved the look of a Barbie Doll even though it is achieved through death – not really happy at all! Society has created an unrealistic ideal represented by the title, and the rest of the poem shows how real women fail to achieve the ideal and eventually destroy themselves because society is more interested in image than value.
Piercy’s Barbie Doll” is a well-written representation of modern expectations for women. The young girl in the poem goes through the life cycle of womanhood, from infancy to adolescence, to teenage years, and finally to adulthood. Throughout this cycle, she undergoes physical and mental changes but grows up into what society expects her to be. Piercy deliberately uses traditional girls’ gifts and colors to represent the standards imposed on women by society. Additionally, the author contrasts Barbie’s popular doll with stereotypes of how women should look and act according to what the doll represents as opposed to her main character.
Using different effects, Piercy has written an effective poem that highlights society’s unjust pressures on young women. Women are expected by society to do certain things to make them more attractive and perfect, like Barbie dolls. In The Providence Phoenix Interview, Marge Piercy herself said: One way in which things have not improved is body image. The required standard for women to achieve or maintain is impossible for 90 percent of the population.
The media has an immense power to constantly promote the image of perfect, skinny blond women that doesn’t correspond to the genetic makeup, body structure, or health requirements of most women. This is a significant issue because women tend to compare themselves with these media images. Almost every woman we know is dissatisfied with their body and feels inferior due to this unrealistic standard. It’s insane how much worse it has become over time. At an early age, comments made about one’s appearance can severely damage an adolescent’s personality and self-esteem.
As Piercy pointed out in her interview, many of the unrealistic images portrayed in the media are fake and unachievable. The author effectively conveys this theme in the poem through her use of tone and imagery, incorporating colors and items typically associated with girls. These images establish a certain standard in young girls’ minds, often leading them to strive for perfection at all costs. Unfortunately, as demonstrated by the young girl’s fate in the poem, this pursuit can be deadly – a reality that some women face in their own lives.
