
No matter what gender, race, hair color, or weight you are and have, you will face some type of discrimination. Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy is a poem about a little girl who, throughout her whole life, tried to fit in, but she was judged based on her appearances. By the end of the poem she commits suicide and gets rid of the features that everyone hates, once they are gone others begin to call her pretty again. In the story, There Was Once, by Margaret Atwood is about a writer beginning a story yet every sentence they start to say gets criticized based on certain words that may sounds derogatory to others. Both of these works focus on the unrealistic expectations set on women and all of humanity. Both authors believe that everyone needs to come together in order to prevent this discrimination that is happening all around us and in order to do so we must stop judging and start accepting people for who they are. 

Both Piercy and Atwood are authors who believe in equality for all genders and races. Throughout their pieces of work they display the hatred and judgement that others in the world place upon their peers. They do this in order to show the world how horrible the things they are saying about others are. In the first stanza of Barbie Doll Piercy says, “then in the magic of puberty, a class mate said: you have a great big nose and fat legs,”(pg 348 line 5-6). This outlines some of the small judgements that could affect someone and how they view themselves.  In There Was Once, Margaret Atwood says “women these days have to deal with too many intimidating physical role models as it is, what with those bimbos in the ads. Can’t you make her, well, more average?” (pg.512 line 5-7). Atwood is more clear when she is trying to address her point where it takes Piercy a longer time in the poem to show the readers why judging others is wrong. They both show that women, and others, face stereotypes and are expected to live up to these unrealistic expectations. 

Piercy uses a first-hand account in her poem where in Atwood’s story she shows her issues with unrealistic expectations based on the correcting of a sentence. These two different authors showed two completely different ways in expressing their opinions. Yet they both still prove points that are very relatable to others. They bring up points like bullying and discrimination about women and their looks which can all be relatable to others in the real world. Another difference would be in There Was Once, Atwood gives ideas on how to change this world we live in and she wants everyone to be aware of the situation around them. Where in Barbie Doll, Piercy only gives a story about what happens to a girl who is judged based on her appearances, she does not explain how to fix this issue, she just wants to spread awareness that it is bad. In either story, unrealistic expectations are something that all genders and races have to face and it needs to be stopped because these people can not help how they are born. 

Living in a world full of unrealistic expectations will only cause you to be harder on yourself because you want to meet those expectations. When you do not meet them you may feel bad about yourself or even not good enough. These expectations must end in order for others and yourself to accept you for who you are and not who you should be. These are just a few ideas that authors like Margaret Atwood and Marge Piercy try to relay throughout their work. Unrealistic expectations can cause people to obsess over what is wrong with them rather than appreciate what they already have. 
