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In this essay, I will explore the themes of various poems from “Kinky”, by Denise Duhamel. The poems “The Limited Edition Platinum Barbie” and “One Afternoon When Barbie Wanted to Join the Military”, reflect upon the oppressive beauty standards and gender expectations in our culture and hyperbolize them to a dystopian point. Duhamel uses Barbie as a metaphor throughout these poems, and addresses our culture’s misogyny, while making Barbie a first person character and giving her a voice. The poem “The Limited Edition Platinum Barbie” critiques our culture’s narrow standard of beauty. Our society is consumed by the fantasy and perfection of the idealized body.
With the constant fear of ridicule and discrimination, we still try and define ourselves, though we are always under the society’s scope. Marge Piercy, in her poem “Barbie Doll”, gives us a look at the influence of our surroundings and how something as innocent as a doll can trigger these insecurities. Our strive for acceptance and “perfection” can cause major emotional damage on anyone who identifies as a woman. Young girls look at these depictions of “perfect” bodies, such as a barbie doll for example, and compare themselves. In the poem “Barbie Doll”, Piercy talks about a young girl who she described as “...healthy, tested and intelligent...” (247) but, she was picked on by peers who said she had “a great big nose and fat legs.”
Marge Piercy’s “ Barbie Doll” establishes the character to be a young girl who hits the stage of puberty and is then subjected to people's hurtful words that destroy her body image. Before these words she seemed to be a normal little girl playing with all the right toys. The words spoken were with intent to help the girl change her physical appearance so she could be a better version of herself, but in the end the girl felt there was no other option. She could never make everyone happy.
The poem Barbie doll by Marge Piercy is about a little girl who grows up only to kill herself for not living up to society’s standards. The speaker shows how she had a normal childhood and was happy playing with here baby dolls and toy stove. However, during puberty, her body changed and everyone noticed. She was criticized for her “fat nose and thick legs”. She tried to change by dieting and exercising, but soon tired of doing so.
Once the doll came out in 1959, they soon were flying off the shelfs. When Handler Handler believed "Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices” ("Entrepreneur in from History”). Barbie was always clothed in many different kinds of unique jobs that women had never had the chance to be. Girls could now play with this doll and say to themselves that they could be more than just a homemaker. Girls then had this choice of following their dreams rather than for the world to shun them out.
Many start the day by arranging their hair, finding clothes to wear, or any other daily habit that may alter one’s image; this is all due to the way others see others. Thankfully, in today’s communities, features are not judged upon as much as four decades ago. In the setting of “Barbie Doll,” by Marge Piercy, the narrator observes a growing girl in a culture that solely focuses on aesthetics, rather than the features that genuinely make up a woman. In Piercy’s “Barbie Doll,” the girl’s society regards aesthetical characteristics far more valuable than her other various qualities and strengths, to the point where she must alter her own nature to create a false reality. This girl’s other qualities beside her looks, are displayed to be very
The life of a women is difficult at all the stages of life, from birth to death, there is certain clothes they need to wear, they need to act a certain way, and do the chores that society feels are necessary for them to do. Society makes it clear that a woman is different from men and the tasks that they have are different. The author of “Barbie Doll,” Marge Piercy sheds a light of the difference on how people treat girls and women as they go from early childhood to adolescence. Piercy uses the connotation of different words, visual imagery, and the comparison between different elements in the girl’s life to ironize society’s social standards that lead to women’s suicides and deaths.
The freedom of being able to change Barbie’s clothes into her various wardrobes sold gives the young children playing with her the sense of individuality. Although Barbie has brought a lot of controversy to the table within the years it has been on the shelf, her portrayal has not changed because after all she is just a doll,
Barbie dolls extend girls an invitation to a ‘‘plastic society’’ that doesn't accept the genuineness each of us possesses. They present a role model impossible to accomplish. The characters didn't have names, they could hold a symbolic representation of society’s judgment. The girls had the first dolls just like they wanted, but they desired to cover all of the imperfections on the dolls damaged in the fire with new clothes such as the ‘‘Prom Pink outfit’’ (Cisneros). Thereupon, no one would notice the
The story tells the reader about how two girls, each owns a Barbie doll with their one outfit piece and they made a dress out of worn socks for the dolls. One Sunday, they both went to the flea market on Maxwell Street, where the dolls of the other characters in Barbie were sold with lower price as a big toy warehouse was destroyed by fire. They did not mind to buy the dolls at the flea market even though the dolls were flawed, soaked with water and smelled like ashes. Barbie is widely pictured as a successful girl, who is perfect in every way; with her beautiful face, a slim body, nice house, secured job and a handsome boyfriend which is the fancy of every girl. The story tells the reader of the expectancy for women to have this immaculate figure, ignoring the fact that each person has different body fat percentage and body mass index which may affect their sizes and weights.
I don’t know if I would agree completely with Anna Quindlens, but some of her opinions did seem to make sense. I do agree that Barbie dolls have made little girls more self-conscious of themselves and that every girl deep down has wanted the “Barbie body”. I really don’t get this cause as a kid I didn’t want to look like my toys I just want to play with them. But I guess It was different for other people cause my sister always wanted to look like her favorite doll. I do see what they are talking about and I do believe the Barbie should have different body types so girls don’t have to think that they have to look like a certain person/thing.
It portrays how two girls make best of what they have and look past all of the flaws that each Barbie doll may have. Meaning that they do not care that their Barbie doll does not look like the rest of them, they still view the toy as a doll to play with. It shows how the two girls view beauty and what it means to them. The lesson learned in this short story is that you should not judge a book by its cover; there is always something beautiful about someone or
Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” takes a sarcastic approach to backlash at society and send the reader a message about what beauty really is. In “Barbie Doll”, A Barbie doll is used to show and symbolize what society views as what a female should aspire to become “perfect”. “Barbie's unrealistic body type…busty with a tiny waist, thin thighs and long legs…is reflective of our culture's feminine ideal. Yet less than two percent of American women can ever hope to achieve such dreamy measurements.”
But where did it all start and how did you get to this position? You’re five years old when you receive your first Barbie doll. Your innocent mind looks at the plastic figure as just a symbol of inspiration or a relatable toy used on the playground
Amongst these justification came multiple explanations. First, according to Mattel’s Culmone, the designer “Barbie is not the problem! Girls view the world in a completely different than grown-ups do. They don’t come at it with the same angles and baggage and all that stuff that we do. Clearly the influence for girls on those types of issues whether its body image or anything else, it is proven, its peers, moms, parents, it’s their social circles.”
