In “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy, the main character is self-conscious after she goes through puberty. People can develop body dysmorphia without even knowing that they truly have a problem. The girl is perfectly normal, but she just believes that she has a big nose and big thighs. She gets surgery to “fix” her imperfections and ends up dying. According to different sources, body dysmorphia is not when someone is obsessive over their whole body. It is when they are obsessed over one part of their body and they think something is wrong with them. In this story, the author portrays a character that develops this disorder which can be proven through reading “Battling Body Dysmorphia” by Kathryn Holmes and “Monsters in the Mirror” by Elie Dolgin. “Barbie Doll” shows examples of body dysmorphia by talking about how the girl changes throughout her young life, how she handles her disorder, and what can happen if the disorder is not treated properly. By reading these three texts, the authors show that society focuses more on appearances than other qualities. 

Each stanza of this poem represents a different stage of the girl’s life. In the first stanza, the main character is presented as a young girl. She is a normal little girl that played with dolls and typical child toys including play stoves and irons. Once she hit puberty, a classmate called out the fact that her body was changing. In the second stanza, she is starting to mature and is probably in middle school/early high school. It is explained that she was still smart, healthy, and possessed all of the normal characteristics of a teenager. She apologized to everyone for the way she was. She believed people only saw her nose and thighs. 

In the third stanza, the reader can see that she’s starting to change her every day actions. At this point, she is more than likely older and capable of paying to get a surgery done. With her insecurities, she dieted, exercised, and smiled to act like everything was okay. Playing happy got old, “so she cut off her nose and her legs” (17). It got to the point to where the girl felt like her only option for happiness was to get plastic surgery and obtain the ideal look.

The fourth stanza is written about the aftermath of her surgery. She died either from the surgery or she committed suicide afterwards because she still was not pleased with her appearance. In the end, everyone at her funeral said “Doesn’t she look pretty?” (23) They don’t seem to worried about the fact that she died, just that she looked pretty and had a “happy ending”. All of the makeup caked onto her face just to give her that complete look. “Consummation at last” gives off the idea that this is what the main character wanted all along (24). A better way she could have handled this would be to receive psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is often used to help treat this disorder. This helps patients slowly get more of a realistic perception of their body. The girl could have finally accepted herself and lived a happy life.

In “Battling Body Dysmorphia” by Kathryn Holmes, body dysmorphia is explained. Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is when someone obsessively focuses on one part of their body that they do not think is good enough or is too different. People who suffer with this disease might also think that something about their body is deformed, even when they look completely normal. BDD can be ultimately caused by traumatic incidences, for instance bullying from classmates or really anyone in general (Holmes). The girl in “Barbie Doll” starts to notice her big nose and big thighs after a classmate says something to her. That is what started her obsession over fixing her flaws. 

Elie Dolgin’s article, “Monsters in the Mirror,” deals with body dysmorphia and how to treat the condition. The main character, Jessica, doesn’t know she has body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). She realizes one day that all the little things she notices is not normal. BDD is a disease that is not treated easily. Some patients don’t figure out that they have this disease until it’s too late (Dolgin). The girl in “Barbie Doll” didn’t have anyone to help her with her issues. The people in her community were portrayed as judgmental of appearance when they attended her funeral. Piercy proves that the community was judgmental by noting that everyone at the funeral said, “Doesn’t she look pretty?” (23) Even though everyone in the community knew her personally, they were still concerned about what she looked like rather than all of her other valuable qualities. She took matters into her own hands when she was old enough and went on and got plastic surgery. If the girl in “Barbie Doll” had a community that didn’t worship appearance, her outcome of life could have turned out like Jessica’s. 

Patients can become completely housebound because they are too ashamed of their bodies to go out in public. Many medications can be prescribed to try to ease the symptoms. People with BDD are usually depressed and anxious, sometimes getting to the point to where they want to commit suicide (Dolgin). The main character in “Barbie Doll” dies after her surgery and it can be taken that she committed suicide because she was still not happy with herself. Some think that plastic surgery is the way to fix this issue but psychiatric care is the better way to handle a disorder like this. After having surgery, the patient is likely to still be depressed. Surgery can fix someone’s physical “problems” but not their mental problems that drove them to get plastic surgery (Holmes). Individuals with BDD feel as if they cannot reach society’s image of a typical girl unless they get surgery. The girl in “Barbie Doll” was pressured to obtain the “perfect” look. She was told to “exercise, diet, smile, and wheedle” (14). No matter what she did, she still couldn’t fit her community’s expectations of an ideal look. She got tired of putting on a front of being happy, so she resulted to surgery. In society, pressure on appearances can alter someone’s perception of themselves so that they block out their other qualities. 

When teenagers begin to go through puberty, certain body parts begin to change and look different. Some may develop the condition body dysmorphic disease (BDD). The obsession over their body becomes too much to handle and it sends them into a downward spiral. In “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy, a girl begins to go through puberty and is ashamed of her “big nose and fat legs” (6). In the way that the poem is written, she makes it known that the girl is smart and normal in every way, except for her fear that people only notice her nose and thighs. This is a prime example of BDD. The main character is just going through puberty, which is completely normal, and she thinks that something is sincerely wrong with her. It gets to the point to where she “cuts off her nose and her legs” or in other words, gets cosmetic surgery (17). This shows that people with this disease can act on violent and irrational thoughts. In some cases, patients commit suicide because they’re so depressed and fixated on their “imperfections”. Piercy writes, “Consummation at last. To every woman a happy ending” (24-25). This portrays the idea that people with this disorder sometimes resort to plastic surgery and artificial ways to make themselves look better, thinking that in the end, it’ll make them much happier and content with life. In most cases like these, women are still depressed and unhappy after going through these steps to make themselves better. 

After analyzing “Barbie Doll” and reading through “Battling Body Dysmorphia” and “Monsters in the Mirror”, the reader can get a true image of what it’s like to have body dysmorphic disorder. Plastic surgery is not the best way to help with this disorder. It would most likely make the situation even worse. The girl in “Barbie Doll” never quite excepts her body the way it is which causes her to go to extreme measures to get the “perfect look”. In the end, she dies trying to look ideal in everyone’s eyes.
