The poem "Barbie Doll", written by Marge Piercy, describes the life of a female, with physical features outside the measurements that society deems attractive. The title "Barbie Doll" is indicative of the mold that society provides for the female form and personality. The poem progresses through the female character's life from birth to death and alludes to the pressures that face females to belong to societies ideal. This ideal is detrimental to a female's confidence and diminutive of her role in society. .
The author breaks the poem into four stanzas, each stanza can been seen as a phase of the female's life. The poem begins with her birth, her toys, through to her rude awakening into adolescence were it is assessed that she is not pretty. Her nose and legs are seen as not fitting into the society's proportions, apparently a fate worse then death, as the female proceeds to cut them off, killing herself. .
How could the opinion of a person become so dependent on the dictation of society, and how does society make their views apparent? Closer inspection of the poem leads to some possibilities. The toys described in the poem are typical female toys, .
" Presented with dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves and irons and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy." .
When taking these toys and looking at their adult applicability they seemed to be aimed towards a future pretty young lady, wife and mother. .
Even though this poem was written in 1971 the difference between girl and boy toys is still apparent. Upon visiting the ToysRus web site there was the separate option of suggested girl and boy toys. When choosing the suggested girls toy link the screen was overcome with pinks and dolls and houses -again promoting femininity and motherhood. This was quite different from the boy page, which was abundant in action figures and building blocks -promoting fighting and construction. .
Encouraging a child to become a solider as opposed to a parent might not be as valued by society, however it is a career, which is necessary for self-sufficiency.
