Pressure In The Poem's Hanging Fire And Barbie Doll

People strive for achieving acceptance or beauty so that society could accept them. This strive though, has come at a cost and leads people to drastic measures such as depression, self-harm, or serious health issues like starvation or excessive exercising. In the two poems “Hanging Fire” and “Barbie Doll”, the two teenagers struggle with acceptance and both end up with serious consequences trying to gain them. In a teenager age, they are more vulnerable as they are trying to figure out who they are as a person. This leaves them in a fragile state and each judgement has more of an impact than it normally would. Throughout their life, they will be peer pressured by friends, classmates, and family who try to point out what is wrong with them and …show more content…
With being a teenager it is hard to ignore it because they are trying to make connections in the world for the first time which will impact them later in life. In both poems, the two teenagers struggle with the outlook of their life even though they were both normal and healthy teenagers. With the need to either please society, friends, or family, they both go through states of trying to please them. In “Barbie Doll” the speaker struggles with beauty and cut off the imperfections from her body. In “Hanging Fire” the speaker is forced to question the decisions she had to make in her life and wonders if it was for her, for her mother who isolated from her, or from society. The issue was not society, but how society presented themselves towards the teenagers. Peers would mock them for the insecurities rather than praise them on the perfections which they had. For a long time, people have found the need to bully one another to make the other feel good. It is time for a change in the way people share opinions about other people. Rather than being negative, there needs to be a change and be positive. Positivity, though a simple concept, is a huge life changer for many people. Those who suffer with depression, abuse, anxiety and body image issues can feel good about themselves and will not have to be hospitalized or be unhappy with …show more content…
Every teenager goes through the phases of trying to please society and people who are above them. It becomes an issue though when a child life or mental health is at stake. In both “Hanging Fire” and “Barbie Doll” the girls suffer mental illness and/or suicide in order to fit into the expectations which were placed on them. Society needs to focus on the positivity of people and not their flaws. People should learn to accept flaws for what they are because no human is perfect. Every human is flawed and if every human had to fix themselves for one goal, there would be a lot of unhappiness and death. Society does not only need to change, but repair the damage as well. Many teenagers are taught to hate, no one is born with hatred. The solution of teenagers trying to gain acceptance into society is to teach children early on not to point out flaws, but point out the positive traits or looks on people. With enforcing positivity, negativity will become less and many teenagers will be