
“Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy is a powerful poem that expresses the topic of feminism and “doll-like appearance” to women of society. The following poem describes the phases that a young girl experiences as she goes through puberty, shaming her body because of others views. Not much has changed to her body except her own perception and self-view. Piercy uses concise writing techniques that are short and to the point but the poem itself expresses a very weighty topic. In just four stanzas the dynamic of the poem changes so fast and ends very abrupt. I like this because I believe Piercy did this on purpose to match the tragic abrupt ending to the story told within the poem. The poem represents the idea of second wave feminism and the icon of the Barbie doll by shaming her body and degrading women. 

From the very first line “This girlchild was born as usual” (Piercy 348). Piercy is already making a point calling the young girl a degrading name. Using the word “girlchild” begins the lack of respect towards women that Piercy portrays throughout the poem. The next line tells us that she played with dolls, makeup and toys. The idea that women should be in the kitchen, wear makeup to enhance look and dress a certain way has been around for years. This brings up second wave feminism that was very present in the twentieth century. One of the articles I found while researching feminism is “Sisterhood Revisited during the Second Wave of Feminism.” This article discusses women in alliance against sexists. The word feminism is examined and explained through a woman’s perspective. The unfairness of life towards women in favor of men is explained in the article. Women fight for equality and claim it is a gender role issue. The article starts in 1960’s and 1970’s it then describes how modern day gender roles have not changed much. Lives at home and in the work place are a large part of the article. Women lived in the men’s shadow and felt if they spoke up they would be punished. Today women’s voices are heard more than in previous decades. However, they are still not as respected as they should be.  

The second stanza tells the reader the young girl is strong and intelligent. But always apologizing to society for her appearance because it was not deemed as “perfect”. In her eyes “everyone” saw a big nose on fat legs. When the only eyes that matter are her own, but it’s hard for girls to believe they are beautiful the way they are when they are being told otherwise. This young girl spends her entire adolescence trying to change and become something she feels she has too. Something as fake as a plastic Barbie doll. The Barbie Doll is an icon that creates an unrealistic ideal to young women. The doll also teaches gender roles to young girls that society has made up for them. In the review of “Barbie Nation: An Unauthorized Tour” by Susan M. Alexander the Barbie doll is explained as a successful marketing strategy. Two Barbie Dolls are sold every second in world. The average girl in the united states owns eight Barbie dolls. Barbie is at the top of the toy industry and bring in continuous financial profit to the industry every year. After learning this information, it is hard to believe young girls have any other choices or thoughts to become something else other than a “perfect doll”. 

The third stanza tells the reader that she seeked help because she was “advised to play coy” (Piercy 348). She ate healthy and did all she could with a smile on her face. She was being as fake as a Barbie doll at this point in time. At the end of the stanza Piercy writes, “So she cut off her nose and legs and offered them up”.  This is a disturbing moment to most readers as we learn she has harmed herself. The pressure to look perfect and fake what was wrong had reached a breaking point. Poor girl had to deal with the thoughts, words and actions of others toward her appearance her whole life and in fact could not grow up like a “normal girlchild”. This girlchild was a real woman hiding behind a fake identity. 

The final stanza starts with the girl laying in a casket with makeup painted on. She is wearing a pink and white nighttie and a turned up putty nose. The last three lines, “Doesn’t she look pretty? Everyone said. Consummation at last. To every woman a happy ending.” (Piercy 348).  Marge Piercy brings everything to a close with these three tragic lines. She starts by using the word “everyone” again like before in the poem to make a point. The word pretty because that is all the young girl yearned for the entire time. Consummation at last is used because finally the girl gets what society told her she needed. Unfortunately, this is not what she wanted nor what she needed the whole time. The word” everyone” is repeated a few times throughout the poem and makes a strong emphasis on the ideas others have. The very last line to every woman a happy ending, has the most underlying meaning of the entire poem. It makes the claim that every woman must go through this scrutiny of standards pressed on to them from birth. Not every woman may harm themselves but the thoughts and self-image damage done to their minds is permanently scarring. The idea that a woman may never look in the mirror and find themselves beautiful is a sickening thought. Society fills itself with fake dolls and tells girls to be just like them no matter how high the cost may be in the end. 
