You would never know that a simple walk through the grocery store could be analogous to a bombardment of societal ideals. Lining the rows are magazines plastered with celebrities, actors, and models that create an expectation and ideal for the way men and women in society should look and act. Back in 1973, when second wave feminism was influencing politics and culture, the same thing was happening. Second wave feminism was focused on "...achieving social justice which it defined as providing women and men with similar opportunities to grow, develop, express, and exercise their potential as people" (Mandle). Society and media produced an image of the ideal women who is inferior to the man and must have a specific physical appearance of beauty in order to be accepted (Burkett). In the poem "Barbie Doll' the author, Marge Piercy uses many literary devices to detail the story of a girl who grows up during second wave feminism, in order to display how she must conform to the ideal set up for women by society to finally be accepted. By looking at the irony of "girlchilds's" health and her death, the symbolism of the Barbie Doll, child toys, people, and color, and the word choice, we can see the social and cultural obstacles both girlchild and women in society experienced and fought to overcome during second wave feminism. This is important because it reveals the domestic images and roles that women played in society during the second wave feminism and how media and culture shaped ideas of how women were cast aside if they did not meet the specific criteria for a women only focusing on physical qualities and disregarding personality and intelligence (Mandle).

Piercy uses irony at the end of the poem when the girl finally decides to conform and give in to societies ideals and "...cut off her nose and her legs" or in other words, kill herself (Piercy 194). After she commits suicide, she is described as having "cosmetics painted on" and "a turned-up putty nose" looking like an actual Barbie doll (194). In the next stanza it refers to "everyone" saying, "Doesn't she look pretty?" (195). "Everyone" in this case refers to society and shows the irony that now that she looks like a real Barbie Doll and fits the ideal physical attributions of a woman in society at the time, despite being dead, she is finally viewed as acceptable in society and because she is accepted it is "a happy ending." This is ironic because death does not seem to matter; all that matters is physical attributes. Piercy also uses irony when talking about the health of the girl. She is described as being "healthy" and "possess[ing] strong arms and back" (194). It is ironic because though the girl is substantially healthy and strong, society does not view her as healthy because her physical appearance does not fit the Barbie Doll like image. It is also ironic how the girl "...went to and fro apologizing..." (194) for the way she looked because no one should have to apologize for their physical appearance. However, but the girl felt the need to do so because during second wave feminism women were considered inferior and the girl was embarrassed to be seen negatively by her superiors.

The use of symbolism in this poem makes evident many ways the ideas of second wave feminism influenced the girl in the poems life and the way it affected her as she grew up. In the first stanza Piercy lists toys that the girl was given once she was born such as "dolls that did pee-pee...miniature GE stoves and irons...and wee lipsticks..." (194). These toys, though they are just items for children to play with, prepare the girl for the future predestined role her and all women were born with during second wave feminism. The dolls that the girl was given that would pee symbolize motherhood, and the girl's preparation in taking care of children by first taking care of her dolls. The toy stoves and iron symbolize domestic jobs that the girl would be doing once she grew up because even though once she got older she "tested intelligent" (194), intelligence did not matter because women had social expectations to work at the home and there was not equal opportunity for jobs during that time because men were considered superior (Burkett). The lipsticks she is given symbolize the standards of physical appearance and beauty set up by society teaching the girl at a young age she needs to look a certain way in order to be accepted. At the end of the first stanza a classmate comments negatively on the girl's physical appearance. The classmate symbolizes all of society and because the girl does not fit this physical ideal of beauty, she is considered ugly. The title "Barbie Doll" refers to the toy plastic dolls and how they symbolize certain aspects of the girl and certain physical beauty expectations she was expected by society to meet. In the third stanza it mentions how the girl is to "play coy" which means to be shy and just keep a smile and this relates to the symbol of the Barbie doll because a Barbie just smiled and does not talk (Piercy 194). Another way the Barbie doll is a symbol is because Barbie is skinny with the tinniest of waists and similarly the girl was expected to "exercise, diet" and in turn be skinny just like the doll (194). Another use of symbolism is the colors white and pink. After the girl has committed suicide, she lies in a coffin with make up on, pretty, finally being accepted in the eyes of society, and she is "...dressed in a pink and white nightie" (194). Pink symbolizes femininity and white symbolizes purity. These colors show that as she lay dead she finally has conformed to what society believes femininity is in its physical beautiful aspects. 

The word choice Piercy uses in the poem shows how, as the girlchild matures, she does not meet the physical ideal set out from society and is unable to overcome the obstacle of not being accepted. Piercy uses the word "magic" (194) when describing puberty. This word choice is interesting when talking about puberty because puberty is a time of physical change and maturation. During puberty women are now able to sexually reproduce and secondary sex characteristics start to appear. There is nothing magical about puberty, as it is biological process, yet the word "magical" suggests that she can fit the physical ideal set out by society and fit into her culture, without any effort or sacrifice on her part. This means that the word "magical" hints to the idea that once a women goes through puberty she becomes a beauty instantaneously, but for the girl in this story that is not the case. Another peculiar choice of words is the word "fan belt" when describing how "...her good nature wore out..." (194). A fan belt is a belt that turns the fan in an engine. By using this word Piercy is showing that similar to when a fan belt dies and gets thrown out because they are no longer useful, the girl could not overcome the physical standard put forth by the society of the time, thus her "good nature wore out" and she got rid of herself through death (194). 

Furthermore, the social norms and expectations for men and women are laid out in society by magazines, models, actors, and movies. In 1973 when "Barbie Doll" was written second wave feminism set up the same kind of expectations and ideals for men and women. During second wave feminism men were superior to women and women had physical expectations of beauty they were supposed to meet (Mandle). Also, women's intelligence was disregarded and they typically worked on domestic jobs as they sought to defy and overcome the barriers of society and culture in order to achieve equal opportunity. In the poem by Marge Piercy, the ideas of second wave feminism are portrayed through the life story of a girl who grows up learning what is expected of her and of women during that time, but she is unable to meet the aforementioned expectations until laying in her casket, a result of suicide. The irony of health and death, the symbolism of the children's toys, Barbie Doll, people, and color, and the word choice are the literary devices used in the poem to illustrate the obstacles women during second wave feminism faced as they tried to break the social -barrier and achieve equal opportunity.
