Historical or cultural events usually have an impact on an author’s writings.  Whether the author is writing to shape history or to raise awareness about a certain idea in a culture, these elements affect the writings.  Authors use literary techniques to help integrate historical and cultural influences into their writings.  For the specific example of “Barbie Doll,” Marge Piercy talks about events and ideas such as, 1960s and 1970s time period and the second wave of feminism, body shaming and dysmorphia and the impacts of gender stereotyping, which starts by the use of gender stereotyping toys.  Piercy does not blatantly talk about these topics but integrates them into her poem by using literary techniques like sarcasm, imagery and allusion to reveal the underlying meaning.  By doing this, she is trying to get the reader to think for themselves on these issues but also trying to put these topics in the reader’s mind.  

The poem “Barbie Doll” was written in the 1970s.  Knowing this, the reader can link it to the time period and see the relations between the two.  During the 1960s-1970s, the second wave of feminism was going on.  The second wave refers to “the American women were limited in almost every respect, from family life to the workplace” (Tavaana).  During these times, the goal of a young women was “to marry in her early 20s, start a family quickly, and devote her life to homemaking” (Tavaana).  Women were looked at just for the purpose of raising a family and that was their only job.  In this poem, Marge Piercy writes, “This girlchild was born as usual” (Piercy 348).  Piercy demonstrates sarcasm in her first sentence of her poem.  The fact that she called this little girl “girlchild” makes it sounds like she is downgrading her from the person that she will become, focused on her gender instead of her as a person.  Piercy believed in the exact opposite but uses sarcasm to pull the reader in to see the true purpose of her writing.  Second, when she points out “was born as usual,” sarcasm is demonstrated again because stating that this girl was born as usual in this time period means that she was born with the expectation of when she grows up that her only goal in life is to serve her husband and her children (Piercy 384).  Piercy also writes “Then in the magic of puberty…” (Piercy 384).  She knows that puberty is not magical or pleasant, which is how she makes it sound, but she includes this because in this time period, women were expected to always be the positive member of the family.  Women were expected to have the “proper support for their husbands because their husbands were the main support of them” (Tavaana).  Going back to the statement, women were taught to be positive, lady-like and show elegance at all times even when they were trying to break that stereotype, which is why Piercy worded this line the way she did.  

One cultural element that is represented in this poem heavily is body shaming and body dysmorphia.  Body dysmorphia is caused by body shaming.  Body shaming is “criticizing your own appearance through a judgment or comparison to another person, criticizing another’s appearance in front of them or criticizing another’s appearance without their knowledge” (Vargas).  Body dysmorphia is a “distinct mental disorder in which a person is preoccupied with an imagined physical defect or a minor defect that others often cannot see. As a result, people with this disorder see themselves as "ugly" and often avoid social exposure” (Ahmed).   To represent these ideas in Piercy’s poem, she uses the element of harsh, vivid imagery.  In one line she states “Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs” (Piercy 384).  She illustrates this the way she does to show the readers that she was fine with herself until “everyone” started to see her this way, simply a fat nose on thick legs.  She also makes sure that she uses the adjectives like “fat” and “thick” to paint a mental image for the reader.  Later in the poem it states “So she cut off her nose and legs and offered them up.  In the casket displayed on satin she lay… a tuned-up putty nose, dressed in a pink and white nightie.” (Piercy 384).  Here she uses imagery to describe what happened once this girl was harassed for so long that there was nothing really wrong with her appearance but due to people picking on her about it, she believed them and did the only thing that she felt was best which was commit suicide. This is referring back to Piercy including the issues of body shaming and body dysmorphia.  The other kids body shamed this girl until she was consumed with nothing but negative thoughts about herself which turned into body dysmorphia, which is revealed when the reader learns that she has committed suicide.  This quote also shows that even at death she was being sexualized as the quote reads that she was dressed in a nightie with her new nose.  She was not being seen as this girl that suffered a tragic event but as a girl who was now beautiful who sadly passed.  Piercy also includes an example of imagery and a simile to get her underlying point across.  In line 15, it illustrates, “Her good nature wore out like a fan belt” meaning that this girl was giving up (Piercy 384).  Piercy includes this as a simile to compare her good, positive nature to an old, tiresome fan belt that has been going and going.  She chooses to compare her good nature to a fan belt breaking because it takes a lot to wear a fan belt out.  A fan belt is tough and can take friction.  She compares the two to show the reader that this poor girl went through a lot until she finally gave up.  This is also imagery because it illustrates a mental picture for the reader.  The reference is to prepare the reader for what happens next in the poem, also known as foreshadowing.   Another example is near the end but instead of the author using imagery she uses sarcasm.  “To every woman is a happy ending” which is alluding back to the idea of women have to be prim and proper and show elegance at all times (Piercy 384).  This little girl was fine until she was body shamed for qualities that were beyond her control and that were for something only physical and not for who she was as a person, which is also sarcasm because this is not a happy ending because this girl is dead. 

The author also alludes to the topic of gender-specific toys.  “…presented with dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves and irons and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy” is a very long but underlying sentence (Piercy 384).  All of the toys listed are geared towards little girls, not boys.  In this time period, as mentioned previously, girls and boys had different paths.  Boys were the ones that grew up, went to work and their main priory was to provide for his family.  However, women were looked at to grow up learning manners, how to cook and clean and take care of the children.  Their main goal was to find a husband in their early 20s, get married and start a family as soon as possible.  The differences between the two are staggering and very different, as were their toys when they were children.  Girls played with dolls, kitchen sets and makeup while boys played with cars, building blocks and outside equipment.  It was not socially acceptable for boys to play with girl’s toys or girls to play with boy’s toys.  If a boy was caught playing with cherry lipsticks and dolls, he would be called things like queer and fagot because boys did not play with makeup and dolls; it was not socially acceptable or allowed.  If a girl would play with trucks and play outside in the mud she would be known as unusual and boyish; this was also not socially acceptable because the girl would thought to grow up more like a boy instead of the stereotypical girl.  This did not change until recently so in this poem girls were only to play with toys that were considered “girl” toys; toys that would prepare them for their futures without even knowing it.  Piercy made sure to list these toys out to show that this “girlchild was born as usual” because in this day in time it was the status quo (Piercy 384).  In a way, Piercy is making fun of the status quo of this time period by alluding to what use to be and what she wants to stop.  The word choice that Piercy uses in this sentence like “presented” shows the reader that this child did not pick these toys but that society picked for them.  So even if this little girl wanted to play with cars and outside equipment, she never had the option because of her sex.  

Throughout this entire poem, there are many underlying meanings then just what is written on the paper.  If the reader really spends time with this poem and looks at the deeper meaning, a historical period and way of life is revealed.  Piercy made it clear that at least three things were seen through her poem “Barbie Doll.”  She wanted it to be known that during the 1960s and 1970s that women were still fighting for social and professional equality.  She also wanted to express the harm that comes to individuals and societies when people body shame other people which can lead to mental illnesses like body dysmorphia.  Lastly, she wanted to emphasize her concern about leading children on a path that society wants them to go down instead of their own choices, which is talked about using gender stereotyping in toys.  With the help of literary elements and techniques, authors are able to convey the true, underlying meanings if their works to the readers.                           

    