Kayla Albrecht, the author of "Why Barbie Died for My Sins," compares the superficial observance of Easter by herself and her parents with the unexpected true appreciation held - and put into action - by Matthew, Kayla Albrecht's little brother. Albrecht speaks of her family's Easter traditions, "Like most pious and holy families, we made sure to attend church every Easter weekend... We then honored Jesus' love for us by dipping eggs into bowls full of food coloring" (Albrecht 152). The Albrecht family did not go to church on Easter because of the fellowship - or because of Jesus’s sacrifice - they went because they wanted a good reputation in the eyes of “God’s flock” (152). In fact, as soon as they left the church, and all other “godly” Easter
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.
After reading the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, I recommend that other high school students read it based on its figurative style and satire. Through the book Speak there is a myriad of figurative language that runs parallel to Melinda Sordino's life and the intractable conflicts she's facing. Based on this students should read the book because Anderson's figurative style is rich with imaginative metaphors and symbols with predictable meanings. One example of this is Malindas Barbie doll sculpture made from bare turkey bones and the head of a decapitated Barbie, “I pop the head of a Barbie doll and set it inside the turkey's body… I place a piece of tape over the Barbies mouth” (Anderson 63-64). One may interpret that she's doing this to express the gruesome loss of her identity and she chose the barbie because like herself the Barbie is fake and plastic on the outside appearing perfect to the world.
The Article "Girls, Boys, Toys: Stop Forcing Girls onto the Barbie-doll Gender Track" by Carrie Mannino imposes a sense of preset destiny among society, she uses examples from the toys in a child's toy catalog to view a domestication in the young minds of each children, then correlated the troubling issues to sexism in modern society-manipulating a child's mine , allowing women to be oppressed in the male dominated world. Mannino focus on details of social values which imposes a narrow choice for man and women Beginning with the catalog, Mannino implies a role for every gender is preset, not allowing a child to choose what they like and want to do with their lives. " The blue evolved into an intense purple, and the models were now all female.
In The Barbie Basement by Sara Bir it tells the story of three female best friends who grew up playing barbies in the basement where happy memories were once shared. The girls were each only separated by a year of age, but each also in different grades. But in the barbie basement they were more than just friends but sisters, who enjoyed each other company and playing together. The basement was there shield them from the real world, where they could pretend to be what and who they wanted to be (Bir, 2004). But nothing can protected us from the real world forever, because life does come with challenges and society has standards that we try to live up to.
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.
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.”
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.
“Barbie-Q” was a short story written by Sandra Cisneros about two little girls and their imagination when they play with their Barbies. Cisneros shows a glance of poverty from the point of view of the young girls. We can portray the struggle in which people who live in third world countries experience and how different their lifestyles are. By showing us a preview of what it’s like to live in poor conditions, the author is trying to illustrate that we need to be appreciative of what we have as people in a first world countries. Just because we don’t necessarily see the other side of the fence, doesn’t mean it does not exist.
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,
Why is communism good? The tenets of communism state that everyone should be equal, the world should be at peace, and communication should be less about the government and more about the people. Communism means different things to different people. To some, it means perfection in the world, and to others, it means nothing because democracy is what ideology they prefer.
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.
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.
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
