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Response To Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll

1050 Words5 Pages

In today’s society people want a women to have an extraordinary appearance. Marge Piercy's’ story Barbie Doll portrays the theme of how a person never feels fully perfect because of the views of society. Even though this poem was written back in 1936, we still have the same perception of how an ideal man or woman should look. In today's time, Social media is the main reason why people have these views. Girls are supposed to look a certain way to be considered attractive. Usually girls are represented as having fairly light skin and being thin. Although the time period has changed the views of people have not. Marge uses this poem to show the struggles of women fitting into society. She does this by using strong literary devices such as repetition, …show more content…

“In the casket displayed on satin she lay with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on, a turned-up putty nose, dressed in a pink and white nightie. Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said (Piercy 19-23)”. Marge ends off the poem by showing us when the girl child was finally happy with who she was after she died. It is sad to know that people did not really realize how beautiful she was until she passed away, but that was only because she was “made up”. Basically saying that she did not look like herself she looked the way society wanted her to be presented. Marge gives us a vivid image of how beautiful she looks in the casket. She does not tell us that she's dead, but because of her use of words one can come to a conclusion. Piercy also adds a little sarcasm in the last line “Consummation at last. To every women a happy ending (Piercy 25)”. She is trying to prove her point that a women has to deal with all these struggles that death would bring more happiness. There is only so much a person can take before they finally give up. Marge creates that image in the reader's head about how messed up society can be. This girl had lost her life, so no one would be able to judge her. That's what happens today too people end up giving up because the pressure of being the perfect man/women is too

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