We all played with Barbies as kids and wanted to be her because she was just the coolest. She had all those jobs and her great boyfriend Ken. But as we grew older the perception of our world changed and turned a little less pink. We would look in the mirror and find something new that we would want to change every day. Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” takes us on that journey from start to end and sheds light on how blind we really are.
The poem begins with a young girl being born and how she was provided with all the toys that a young girl would enjoy. But once she hits puberty, she is bullied by fellow classmates, pointing out her “great big nose and fat legs.” We then learn that she is smart, healthy and physically fit but goes around apologizing for her insecurities. Everyone she knows gives her tips and advice on diet and exercise. She’s told to play coy and smile. Eventually she could not pretend, she was done with the advice so she got rid of her nose and legs. At her funeral she lays, all done up by the mortician, wearing a nightie. Everyone says, “Doesn’t she look pretty?” Finally she has what she wanted but it is too late and at what cost?…show more content… There is a baby girl and she has all sorts of toys to play with. However, in the last line that feeling is crushed by the unkind words of her fellow classmates. It evokes the feeling that all of us know too well. That feeling where your stomach drops and your heart sinks because of something you felt so good about being torn down. In the second stanza, it explains a very successful woman until the last two lines change our feelings again into insecure and apologetic. The third stanza is where everyone she knows gives her advice on how to change her ways. The advice doesn’t seem to stop coming, “play coy, /come on hearty, /exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.” till she become exasperated. Finally, we come to the end and she feels nothing because she is