ipl-logo

Barbie Q Cisneros Analysis

609 Words3 Pages

I believe that in “Barbie-Q”, Cisneros is identifying society as the enemy. In the story the little girl is constantly trying to get her Barbie to be as good as the other Barbie’s. However, she has to buy them from Maxwell Street at a flea market where some are burned or soaking wet because of the toy factory that caught fire. She is justifying that her Barbie collection, even though it is not from brand new boxes, it is still a Barbie no matter where it came from. Society as a whole is telling this little girl that her Barbie’s are no good. It’s because of society that she goes to these lengths to impress other little girls. She buys burnt Barbie’s from water-stained boxes that are cheap and makes a dress when the other outfit gets worn out. …show more content…

She begs her parents for these dolls, gets them, washes them, and covers up their flaws so they seem as if they came from an actual toy store. The little girl wants to fit in! “We have to make do with your mean-eyed Barbie and my bubblehead Barbie and our one outfit apiece not including the sock dress”, the little girl sees her doll as a measure of wealth. The better and newer the Barbie, the more well-off your family is. The Barbie dolls are causing the little girl to feel insecure so that she needs to make her Barbie’s appear as if they were new. This insecurity may develop over time to a low self-esteem. Society makes it seem that women have to be beautiful, skinny housewives that are dependent on men. Barbie is contributing to these ideals. “Because we don’t have money for a stupid-looking boy doll when we’d both rather ask for a new Barbie outfit next Christmas.” The little girl feels pressured by not having a Ken doll, but at the same time all of the little girls would rather ask for a new outfit with accessories than a new Ken

Show More
Related

Barbie Dystopianis Duhamel Analysis

805 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Sandra Cisnero's Barbie-Q

1218 Words | 5 Pages

Those families don’t have the extra money to be splurging on unnecessary items, like toys. In the short story, “Barbie-Q” by Sandra Cisnero the narrator’s family is poor and she understands that and appreciates the new dolls very much. The narrator is positive about her situation because her optimism, her age and her socio-economic status however the reader should feel negatively about it because the feeling of ungratefulness and that the reader has a feeling of entitlement. In the short story the narrator is positive about her situation due to her optimism.

Read More

Shame In Barbie-Q By Cisneros

1539 Words | 7 Pages

The narrator in “Barbie-Q” resisted the negative association with the shame expected of her and did not allow that shame to stop her from enjoying her toys. The narrator posed this to readers when she says, “So what if we didn’t get our new Bendable Legs Barbie and Midge and Ken…in nice clean boxes and had to buy them on Maxwell Street, all water-soaked and sooty” (“Barbie-Q” 16). She used her innocence as a way to avoid the shame associated with her dolls and just focused on the excitement of receiving a new one. By her lack of real shame over her dolls and her own situation, she really fought the idea that one must feel ashamed and negatively towards themselves because of the shame they are presumed to feel because of their financial

Read More

Marge Piercy's The Barbie Doll

707 Words | 3 Pages

The poem Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy is a short poem that talks about a little girl who is born just like any other little girl. She plays with dolls and little ovens and messes around with makeup. She is fine and unbothered with her life till she hits puberty. Around that age she has a classmate tell her “you have a big nose and fat legs.” She was a girl who was healthy, strong, and intelligent but, she was apologizing to everyone for what they saw.

Read More

Identity In Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll

730 Words | 3 Pages

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.”

Read More

Symbolism And Imagery In Barbie Doll By Marge Piercy

802 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Barbie's Positive Influence On Pop Culture

506 Words | 3 Pages

Although Barbie has conveyed many beliefs through the clothes and jobs she has had, the most controversial belief has been body image. Since first being brought out into the world, Barbie has had an unreasonably shaped body, with a small waist and large breasts. All of Barbie’s body features have impacted the way society expects women to look. But in 2016, Barbie had a dramatic makeover, she was released in different heights and body shapes, making her more suitable to the way women actually look. Barbie’s new look has made a positive impact on young girls and potentially society’s unrealistic expectations of

Read More

Does Barbie Make Girls Want To Be Thin?

150 Words | 1 Pages

Many girls around the world are playing with Barbie dolls. What they are hidden from is that those dolls are bringing them down. Little girls have a wish to be just like the Barbie doll and that sets a bad example. Barbie was originally supposed to be a role as an adult and show gender equality upon the dolls. Barbie dolls are bad influences because they cause eating disorders, false hopes, and lower self-esteem.

Read More

Barbie Doll Rhetorical Analysis

1144 Words | 5 Pages

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,

Read More

1950s Beauty Pageants

590 Words | 3 Pages

More specifically she represents the embodiment of the mainstream beauty standard (Klein). She became a very significant role in gender socialization among young girls and woman. In the first Barbie commercial ever, if you carefully scrutinize the lyrics, it says “…someday I’m going to be exactly like you, until then I know just what I’ll do, Barbie beautiful Barbie I’ll make believe I am you” these lyrics informs us that Barbie represents a dream to every little girl, how their future should look like. Barbie was able to remain popular in the conservative times of the 50’s by captivating the attention of little girls, they all aspired to look just like her. Barbie was able to uphold some of the messages that dominated that era by represents the gender roles that belong to woman, in the first Barbie commercial, you can see Barbie wearing a wedding dress, symbolizing that every girl/woman desires to become a

Read More

Barbie Research Paper

299 Words | 2 Pages

Barbie is one of the most iconic role models for adolescent girls, but also one of the most damaging icons. These dolls serve as an unrealistic ambition for women to aspire to. According to an article written by Dittmar,

Read More

Spanish American Barbie Doll Identity

645 Words | 3 Pages

Virgin, Sandi looks in the mirror in the bathroom and is “surprised to find a pretty girl looking back at her. It struck her impersonally, as if it were a judgment someone else was delivering, someone American and important, like Dr. Fanning…” (Alvarez 181). When Sandi looks in the mirror, she does not feel as if she is herself, but rather the powerful host of cultural ideology that is at play in the working of the definition of beautiful, as if she were a doll looking at a doll. She sees what Valerie Babb would refer to as having “…no particular power, until ‘adults, older girls, shops, magazines, newspapers, window signs—all the world’ give them such by aggregately terming them [Spanish] and privileging that now racialized classification.”

Read More

Meaning Of Barbie Q By Sandra Cisneros

606 Words | 3 Pages

In the short story ''Barbie Q,'' Sandra Cisneros portrays that Barbie dolls can impact girl's lives as they grow up, and influence the way they act and perceive themselves. These girls grow up in a poor family environment considering that they acquired the rest of the dolls in a toys sale after a store burned down. In ‘‘Barbie Q,’’what is the thematic significance of the damaged dolls after the fire? The girl’s enthusiasm to get the new dolls -when they said that they prefer to receive new doll’s clothes- suggests that the meaning of these Barbie dolls is more than just a new toy.

Read More

Sandra Cisneros Barbie-Q: A Literary Analysis

1793 Words | 8 Pages

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.

Read More

Analysis Of Marge Piercy's A Barbie Doll

1480 Words | 6 Pages

The poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy suggests that girls are fatally and ultimately entrapped by society's definition of what feminine beauty and behavior is. In our society we believe that women should be perfect. We want women to be as flawless as a Barbie doll and in doing so we create many struggles for women because no one can ever achieve that goal. The poem gives off a sense of irony when “society” compares a young girl to a Barbie doll. Our society has an ideal that was created by the influences of popular media and culture that is impossible for anyone to reach.

Read More

More about Barbie Q Cisneros Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document