Mass Construct in Barbie Doll by Marge Percy
Barbie Doll
The Common Women Poems, III. Nadine, resting on her neighbor’s stoop
By Marge Piercy
This girlchild was born as usual and presented dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves and irons and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.
Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:
You have a great big nose and fat legs.
She was healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back, abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.
She went to and fro apologizing.
Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.
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.
In the casket displayed on satin she lay with the undertaker 's cosmetics painted on, a turned-up putty nose, dressed in a pink and white nightie.
Doesn 't she look pretty? everyone said.
Consummation at last.
To every woman a happy ending.
Mass’ Constructs
The Mass’ Construction or the matters which related to power relation and domination by Michel Foucault might be applied into the poem of ‘Barbie Doll´ by Marge Piercy. Clearly could be seen, the victim from the poem are exactly a woman. While she’s only a kid, the topic of Mass’ Construction is strongly applied into the theme and atmosphere of the poem. As Michel Foucault stated in his ‘Power/Knowledge’, the stronger one person the bigger his position to influence the weaker opposites. For Michel Foucault it is through discourse (through knowledge) that we are created. If we are the sum of our experiences (the knowledge we encounter), then those in control of our early life experiences have enormous power. In an isolated family, a child 's knowledge depends upon just a few people. In a sense, those few people create the child 's identity. From Power and Knowledge, comes ‘Discipline and Punish’ for the littlegirl. That these reorganizations of knowledge were also
The Common Women Poems, III. Nadine, resting on her neighbor’s stoop
By Marge Piercy
This girlchild was born as usual and presented dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves and irons and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.
Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:
You have a great big nose and fat legs.
She was healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back, abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.
She went to and fro apologizing.
Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.
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.
In the casket displayed on satin she lay with the undertaker 's cosmetics painted on, a turned-up putty nose, dressed in a pink and white nightie.
Doesn 't she look pretty? everyone said.
Consummation at last.
To every woman a happy ending.
Mass’ Constructs
The Mass’ Construction or the matters which related to power relation and domination by Michel Foucault might be applied into the poem of ‘Barbie Doll´ by Marge Piercy. Clearly could be seen, the victim from the poem are exactly a woman. While she’s only a kid, the topic of Mass’ Construction is strongly applied into the theme and atmosphere of the poem. As Michel Foucault stated in his ‘Power/Knowledge’, the stronger one person the bigger his position to influence the weaker opposites. For Michel Foucault it is through discourse (through knowledge) that we are created. If we are the sum of our experiences (the knowledge we encounter), then those in control of our early life experiences have enormous power. In an isolated family, a child 's knowledge depends upon just a few people. In a sense, those few people create the child 's identity. From Power and Knowledge, comes ‘Discipline and Punish’ for the littlegirl. That these reorganizations of knowledge were also
Bibliography: 1. Rouse, Joseph, "Power/Knowledge" (2005). Division I Faculty Publications. Paper 34. http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/div1facpubs/34