Poem Comparison: Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll vs. Edwin Arlington Robinson's Richard Cory
Richard Cory VS Barbie Doll
Nick Sooknanan
ELB30
The way our society has a way to view other people by their appearance will probably never change. In some way everyone has it set in their mind what makes a person perfect. These things about people include personal appearance, money and intelligence. We do not always get the chance to get to know a person, but we always make assumptions about people. Two poems, which show different view of someone, include Richard Cory and Barbie Doll.
In the Barbie doll, the author writes about a girl’s life. The author starts off by describing her childhood. She was given dolls and toys like any other girl and she also put on some lipstick. This girl was healthy and very smart. Even though she had good things to her name she was still looked at by others as the girl with a big nose and fat legs. She exercised, went on diets and smiled as much as possible to please those around her. She became tired of pleasing everyone else and decided to commit suicide. During her funeral those who she has tried pleasing in the past were the ones to comment about how beautiful she looked. That is what she was looking for before she committed suicide.
Richard Cory was viewed as the gem of the neighbourhood, unlike the Barbie doll, Richard Cory was a man loved by everybody, and he was a man that society had put up on the scale. He had looks and wealth that everybody wanted. Even though people did not really know him they wanted to live like him and be like him. His neighbours worked harder at their jobs thinking that it would help them be happy as they saw Richard Cory. But they didn’t know that this man was not happy at all like everybody thought he was. On a summer night Richard Cory put a bullet through his head.
Both of these poems show two views of individuals by society. The girl in the Barbie doll was healthy and intelligent, but everybody still made fun of her for her looks. And Richard Cory was complimented for his looks and wealth but
Nick Sooknanan
ELB30
The way our society has a way to view other people by their appearance will probably never change. In some way everyone has it set in their mind what makes a person perfect. These things about people include personal appearance, money and intelligence. We do not always get the chance to get to know a person, but we always make assumptions about people. Two poems, which show different view of someone, include Richard Cory and Barbie Doll.
In the Barbie doll, the author writes about a girl’s life. The author starts off by describing her childhood. She was given dolls and toys like any other girl and she also put on some lipstick. This girl was healthy and very smart. Even though she had good things to her name she was still looked at by others as the girl with a big nose and fat legs. She exercised, went on diets and smiled as much as possible to please those around her. She became tired of pleasing everyone else and decided to commit suicide. During her funeral those who she has tried pleasing in the past were the ones to comment about how beautiful she looked. That is what she was looking for before she committed suicide.
Richard Cory was viewed as the gem of the neighbourhood, unlike the Barbie doll, Richard Cory was a man loved by everybody, and he was a man that society had put up on the scale. He had looks and wealth that everybody wanted. Even though people did not really know him they wanted to live like him and be like him. His neighbours worked harder at their jobs thinking that it would help them be happy as they saw Richard Cory. But they didn’t know that this man was not happy at all like everybody thought he was. On a summer night Richard Cory put a bullet through his head.
Both of these poems show two views of individuals by society. The girl in the Barbie doll was healthy and intelligent, but everybody still made fun of her for her looks. And Richard Cory was complimented for his looks and wealth but