Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy

The title, Barbie doll, brings a strong implication of the figurines that have earned a large reputation. Barbie is known for her strikingly long legs, tiny waist and a full chest. Ironically, she is promoted as a young girl's toy. What body image does this give these growing girls? One that is physically impossible but at the same time so desirable. Thus, before the poem is even read, these themes and ideas exist within the reader's mind.

The poem consists of four stanzas with unequal numbers of verses each. There is also no rhyme scheme.

It is the diction, imagery and themes present in the poem, which make it interesting and engaging.

The first stanza has an interesting first line; "this girlchild was born as usual", which sets the tone of the poem and engages the average person (i.e. a large portion of the population). We next read about serious female stereotyping and the distinction of female roles instilled within a child from a young age. She is receiving minature stoves, dolls and lipstick; all things which suggest that she must be a pretty, perfect, doting little girl. The "magic of puberty' creates some irony, as clearly the poet is suggesting the miserable years of puberty, especially when other girls can be so harsh and particular about outward appearances. This usual girl suddenly is told that she has a big nose and fat legs.

The next stanza begins with the beautiful features of the girl; she is healthy, smart, strong and capable. However none of this matters to her. Her confidence is blown by the one comment. She is thus forever apologizing, bowing down, because she felt all that everyone say were the large nose and fat legs. This is especially true and applicable it today's day and age, with low self esteem becoming a growing problem. It is all too easy to get caught up in the flaws, and all so difficult to overlook these to see true inner beauty. Furthermore, this problem is resulting in terrible things... anorexia.... bulimia.... suicide.

The girl was manipulated, told to be somebody else - to "play coy" and at the same time "come on hearty". She was influenced to "excercise, diet, smile and wheedle" and not surprisingly she became worn down. It happens all the times, girls loose who they are. This emotional stress and constantly trying to change to become the perfect person takes a toll until finally its gone too far. With that, the girl in the poem kills herself.

The final stanza takes place at her funeral. She is laid to peace in satin, looking all dolled up with make-up and dressed up in a darling pink and white night gown. The seen is ironic; a funeral being described completely with the beauty of the child in the casket. The stanza becomes increasingly ironic as the funeral's audience decided that the girl looked prettier than ever before. While this could be interpreted as the sadness the people felt for this being the last time they would ever see the girl was causing them to speak of her beauty in a sentimental way, it most likely was meant in the cruel idea that the girl looked beautiful for the first time, having been beautified by the undertaker. In the final words, females are born to find success in looking beautiful and this girl had found this in her casket.

This poem makes strong statements about societies pressure for women to fall into specific roles and backs it up with imagery of pinks, dolls and make-up, while portraying women roles through the idea of the average girlchild and their need to act a certain way and be a certain size. I enjoyed the poem very much and enjoyed analyzing it.