
In “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy, the female narrator starts off the poem by describing a girl by her physical appearance. Upon first glance, the poem is demeaning. The author uses a lot of imagery, which is used to bring the girl down in a negative light. The language is laced with angry sounding adjectives, and a negative tone. Throughout the poem the girl is being brought down by the authors interpretation of her appearance and the value that it holds. In the end the girl is put to rest, and it is described as her happy ending because they make her look representable according to society’s expectations. However, readers know that how you look when you die doesn’t really matter. This piece of literature delves into the idea of gender equality, and asks if it matter how a girl looks. The poem’s negative tone, diction, and tone can be further explained by an understanding of Feminism, its culture, and the present situation of the movement.

In “Implicit Attitudes Towards Feminism” by Jessica Jenin she says “Indeed, despite the success of these women, high-profile women often have to perform a difficult balancing act of projecting stereotypically masculine leadership attributes without appearing to be subordinating their feminine qualities” (Jenin 1). This quote is emphasizing the idea that women can be just as qualified and intelligent as their male counterparts, but because of our perception of women they tend to get overlooked if they aren’t as pretty or normal as other girls. Understanding this article helps us as readers understand why the author of Barbie Doll uses such a negative attitude, diction, and connotation. She is trying to design her poem like this because she wants us to get the full view of what she is trying to say. Our knee jerk reaction when reading the criticisms is we feel sympathetic and sad. Marge Piercy wants us to feel like that, so when we can evaluate her composition in a different light.

A negative tone is present throughout the four stanzas of “Barbie Doll”. This composition is designed so that the negative words can easily jump out to the reader. Every line ends with a condescending remark regarding the girl’s appearance. As mentioned before it is evident that the author uses a lot of demeaning connotations to prove her point on how females are viewed in our society. The whole poem is describing a female by using physical descriptions usually put in a negative attitude or connotation. Later on in the poem the narrator says “Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs” (Piercy 348). This statement illuminates the idea that females aren’t viewed equally, and that they are treated differently depending on their looks. In our society today a female’s value continues to be based on looks rather than them as an individual. Men in our society aren’t judged or looked at the same way, and that’s what the author is trying to point out. Throughout “Barbie Doll” the narrator tries to get the point across to the readers, so they understand that this is a continuing problem in our society. 

At the beginning of the second stanza the narrator begins to say “She was healthy, tested intelligent possessed strong arms and back” (Piercy 348) This was probably one of the only positive descriptions of the girl in the entire poem. What is interesting is that this is overshadowed by all the negativity in the literature. As a reader you almost overlook this because it is deemed not as important. The author uses this line to illustrate how we only look at the physical descriptions of females, while sometimes we may overlook the intellectual details. That line also contradicts other parts in the poem because it is the only line that doesn’t describe her physical appearance. It is almost as if this sentence is the highlight of the poem, because it is so different than the other lines. It highlights what we should be looking at when determining someone’s value. It’s not about what they look like or conforming to society’s set standards for us. Marge Piercy uses her negative tone to try to emphasize that a girl’s value or worth shouldn’t be based on the perception of her looks rather it should be based on her intelligence and what’s on the inside. 

The tone isn’t the only thing that stands out in the poem. Marge Piercy has an interesting sense of diction or word choices that she uses in her writing. “So she cut off her nose and her legs and offered them up” (349) This quote continues her idea that this particular girl didn’t fit into society’s set of standards. Meaning that because the girl didn’t look the same, or that she had different physical characteristics that made her stand out she was deemed as not normal. This line also creates an extreme sense of imagery, because the reader can visualize with ease what’s going on in the line mentioned. The authors language tends to be more critical and harsh, she uses a lot of adjectives to give key descriptions of the women’s body. It continues the authors ideas that society is too harsh on young females. That for some of them it is so bad that they want to get extensive procedures done to them just for them to be deemed valuable. Marge Piercy “So she cute off her nose and her legs” (Piercy 349). The narrator emphasizes that the girl continues to make changes to her body because she wasn’t satisfied on how she was viewed. Continuing on the idea of word choice the author uses tough adjectives to connect to our emotions. With every harsh word we start to feel for the female, and we start feeling empathetic to her. A main idea that can be taken away from this composition is that as a society we need to decide what’s important to us. Nobody whether it be a female or male should feel invalid or undesired because of their appearance. 

One of the many interesting things about this poem is the length of it. The author decides to keep it short and sweet. Feminism is a very controversial and hot topic she could of easily written a couple pages on this, but she instead chooses to write only four stanzas. This helps keep the main idea very simple and easy to understand for readers of all ages. She doesn’t want there to be any discrepancies when trying to evaluate what she is saying. By the poem being as short as it is it doesn’t take much to know or figure out what this poem means and what it stands for.

The past and present of feminist life and culture brings into perspective Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” The poem was laced with dark adjectives and a negative connotation. The attitude is mostly negative and at sometimes demeaning, and the overall tone of the poem is extremely negative and critical. At first glance, we don’t know why these factors exist throughout the poem. However, after examining the role of Feminism as well as the current situation involving gender equality, such negativity and criticism does not seem so unnecessary.
