Analysis Of The Poem Barbie Doll

Vying for Perfection (1b) In “Barbie Doll”, Piercy uses a multitude of symbols to relate to the reader. The most poignant being the abstraction of a Barbie doll figure. Barbie dolls in society are looked at as a sense of perfection that is unrealistic and unachievable, creating an insecurity in the realm of teenage girls, respectively. The girl throughout the poem deals with the constant struggles that comes with being a girl in society. A classmate of the girl tells her “you have a great big nose and fat legs.” (line 6) At a young age it is indoctrinated in the brains of children to criticize others. Beginning the poem, the words “girlchild” (line 1) appear bringing the idea that she is still a child but must maintain a certain dynamic that falls within being a female in the world. Also within the same few lines are the words “as usual” (line 1) followed by “miniature GE stoves and irons”
Alliteration occurs in line 4 with the phrase “color of cherry candy” (line 4). The “color of cherry candy” (line 4) is an alliteration because of its use of the first letter C throughout the phrase giving it a more pronounced sound. Assonance is apparent in the poem with the words that have an E sound in them. The words are “pee-pee” (line 2), “GE” (line 2), “wee” (line 4) and “the” (line 4). The words all have a similar repeated end vowel sounds and occur within lines 2-4 as stated. There is also a phrase that is repeated within the poem and that is “big nose and fat legs” (line 6) and gets interchanged to “fat nose and thick legs” (line 11) then again to just “nose and legs.” (line 17) The significance behind the continuous use of this phrase is much to the fact that that is one or two of the factors that have caused this girl to be unhappy in her own skin, and wants the reader to be aware of her insecurities as she progresses in her life in a false type of