“Her good nature wore out/ like a fan belt./ So she cut off her nose and her legs/ and offered them up.” This quote from “Barbie Doll”, by Marge Piercy, refers to a young girl who wishes to change her character and her appearance in order to live up to society’s expectations. In fact, instead of being complimented or admired for whom she truly is, people would rather criticize and condemn her for whom she isn’t. As a result of endlessly trying to alter her portrait, the “girlchild” eventually “wore
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poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy, she illustrates the effect that society has on the expectations of women. This expectation is that women, like the girl described in the poem, should be perfect. She should know how to cook and clean, but most importantly she should be attractive according to the impossible stereotypes of womanly beauty. Many women in today’s society are being compared to the unrealistic physical looks and life of the Barbie doll. Through the past many years, the Barbie doll has
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Donisvitch “Introduction to Literature” Ann Rasmussen April 23, 2009 Barbie Doll The poem begins in a fairy-tale vein, the archaic term “girl-child” being used to underscore the mythic quality of the story. The dolls, stove, iron and lipstick are all traditional play things for young girls, but they are also markers of an identity in the making, the things that young girls grow to identify with their own social roles. The doll presents an idealized image of the body, and stove and irons tell
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to a Barbie Doll Women were considered the subordinate gender that was expected to have this stay at home homemaker attitude. They were supposed to powder their noses and look pretty. Women are discriminated against in society. Women have stereotypical gender roles they are supposed to uphold. As suggested in the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy the Barbie doll is the idealized image of a woman and is considered to have long legs, perfect skin, small waist and a slender figure. The Barbie doll
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Barbie Doll Women have a wrong perspective about beauty. With media and social networking on the rise, the standard of beauty is skewed to what others portray it to be. Women who don’t have supportive people around them to reinforce the true concept of beauty often grow up to be self-destructive and seek validation from all the wrong places. There is too much importance and too much anxiety placed on women to surrender to the image of being or becoming a Barbie doll. In the poem “Barbie Doll,” written
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"Matt" Matson in 1945. In 1959 the main product was officially released to the market, which called “Barbie” doll. This company becomes extremely successful in term of Internalization Process; however Matt had to face with a huge challenge in Chinese market because of lack of careful considering the social factor. In 2009, the company made a foray by establishing the world's largest "House of Barbie" valuing $30 millions in a prime Shanghai location, which built the six-story shop including
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The response for the poem “Barbie Doll” The poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy seems to be a strange poem. When I first read it, I thought that is a poem for children, but the ending of the poem is weird. Then I read it again many times. I remembered that one time, when I was in my art class. We were talking about the image of the Barbie Doll and the American culture. The body shape of the Barbie Doll was changing over time to meet the standard which depends on the culture and society at the specific
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Society tells children what they should be like. Girls should play with dolls and boys should play with toy cars and weapons. With these stereotypes comes the idea that men are “gross” and “jerks.” The poems “Barbie Doll” and “Playboy” show the dangers of allowing consumerism to take over society. The consequences of these are quite different, yet the same point is made. In the poems “Barbie Doll” and “Playboy” the imagery, tone, and syntax warn the reader about the dangers of consumerism, but each
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Oluwatoyin Ogunniyi Ms. Hamilton Composition I December 1st , 2011 Barbie Doll The piece of literature I chose to analyze was Barbie Dolls by Marge Piercy. This poem is about a young girl who goes through the normal stages of female bodily development. As the “girlchild” becomes a female she has an ugly nose and fat legs. She tries to be accepted by society but they deny her because of her looks. After a numerous attempts of trying to fit in she gives up. “Girlchild” has surgery
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The poem by Marge Piercy “Barbie Doll” is very different from the poem by Lucille Clifton “homage to my hips.” The authors of these poems have very different viewpoints and attitudes in expressing their story on the similar subject. Both poems present the aspect of women rejection of society’s expectations concerning the physical appearance. The poem by Lucille Clifton speaks in the first person and brings confidence and high self-esteem outlook while the poem by Marge Piercy speaks in the third
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