Marge Piercy's Poem 'Barbie Doll'
English 1B
7 November 2011
Never Enough, Never Perfect, Never Happy Society tells us what we should be, who we should be, what we should look and act like and what is perfect. Too many woman try to fit this ideal of what we should be based on media and society in an imperfect world. Marge Piercy is criticizing this in her poem “Barbie doll”. The poem shows how ridiculous it is the way we try to conform to what society’s ideals are for the perfect woman. “And presented dolls that did pee-pee/ miniature GE stoves and irons/ and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy” (2-4). These are all traditional toys for girls but also things that have an influence on a girls identity and essentially put them in their place for their future roles …show more content…
We have such a skewed view at this point that we think it is our fault and that we need to try harder if others don’t see us as the ideal woman in our society. We start to let others perceptions define who we are and skew our self-image into something grotesque. “She was advised…/exercise, diet, smile and wheedle” (12, 14) Piercy describes how society tells us what we must do to have others like us and to become the ideal. We must obey, shut up, and have the perfect body image or nobody will love us and we mustn’t love ourselves the way we are we must be continually trying to be someone we aren’t but someone everyone else thinks we should be. “Doesn’t she look pretty? everyone said./ To every woman a happy ending” (23, 25). These last few lines I think are the most important. You can hear them dripping with sarcasm and irony that only have she has killed herself and destroyed who she is by taking away what others deem to be imperfect is she finally accepted but at what cost? The reality is that it will never be enough no matter what we do because there will always be people who don’t like the way we are and demand that we change if we want to be accepted and so we will keep on trying and trying until there is nothing left of
7 November 2011
Never Enough, Never Perfect, Never Happy Society tells us what we should be, who we should be, what we should look and act like and what is perfect. Too many woman try to fit this ideal of what we should be based on media and society in an imperfect world. Marge Piercy is criticizing this in her poem “Barbie doll”. The poem shows how ridiculous it is the way we try to conform to what society’s ideals are for the perfect woman. “And presented dolls that did pee-pee/ miniature GE stoves and irons/ and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy” (2-4). These are all traditional toys for girls but also things that have an influence on a girls identity and essentially put them in their place for their future roles …show more content…
We have such a skewed view at this point that we think it is our fault and that we need to try harder if others don’t see us as the ideal woman in our society. We start to let others perceptions define who we are and skew our self-image into something grotesque. “She was advised…/exercise, diet, smile and wheedle” (12, 14) Piercy describes how society tells us what we must do to have others like us and to become the ideal. We must obey, shut up, and have the perfect body image or nobody will love us and we mustn’t love ourselves the way we are we must be continually trying to be someone we aren’t but someone everyone else thinks we should be. “Doesn’t she look pretty? everyone said./ To every woman a happy ending” (23, 25). These last few lines I think are the most important. You can hear them dripping with sarcasm and irony that only have she has killed herself and destroyed who she is by taking away what others deem to be imperfect is she finally accepted but at what cost? The reality is that it will never be enough no matter what we do because there will always be people who don’t like the way we are and demand that we change if we want to be accepted and so we will keep on trying and trying until there is nothing left of