Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy

Barbie Doll

The poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy is not an exaggeration of the pressure young girls and women face in day to day events. Barbie Doll is about a young girl that cut off her own nose and legs to please everyone else in her life. I believe it is not an exaggeration, because Piercy uses language like “puberty,” “apologizing,” and “advised” as stronger language in the poem that shows what actions were going on in the young girls life.

In the first stanza, the word “puberty’ is used to show the reader what makes young girls change to a more mature women. The poem states, “then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said: you have a great big nose and fat legs.”(770) When reading this sentence I wondered why Piercy thought to say “then in the magic of puberty.” How is a young girl going through puberty and getting made fun of by her classmate’s magic?

The poems has the word “apologizing” in the second stanza showing that the girl was apologizing for having a fat nose and thick legs. She was always sorry that the people around her had to be near someone that was so ugly and fat. Piercy states in the poem “she went to and fro apologizing. Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.”(771) This sentence shows that young girls in the world feel like they should have to apologize to the society for how God created them.

“She was advised to play coy, exhorted to come on hearty, exercise, diet, smile and wheedle. Her good nature wore out like a fan belt. So she cut off her nose and her legs and offered them up.”(771) In the third stanza Piercy used the word “advised” to show that people in this world feel like they should be able to tell someone what to do with their lives. This poem

tells us that one person in this world can make someone that was once smart or beautiful into someone that is nothing in this world.

The poem Barbie Doll is absolutely no exaggeration of the pressure young girls or women face in the world. The poem shows the weakness the women...