Society places unrealistic expectations on girls of how they should look. The poem “Barbie Doll” written by Marge Piercy is about a girl who is pressured to look beautiful by her classmates in school. However, her classmates’ expectations were unrealistic. When the girl couldn’t take the pressure anymore of trying to look pretty, she kills herself. I determined the theme of this poem by its title and figurative language. First, I figured out the poem’s theme by its title and figurative language. For instance, the title’s name is “Barbie Doll.” A barbie doll is a popular toy for girls, which has a slim body, beautiful hair, and pretty clothes. That being said, a barbie doll has unrealistic traits for a perfect body, which is what society sees. In addition, the poem’s title “Barbie Doll” refers to the “girlchild” in the poem. In other words, her classmates pressured the girl to look like a barbie doll. Obviously, looking like a barbie doll is unachievable and unrealistic, so the girl was exhausted. Again, the poem’s title helped me determine its theme.
…show more content…
That is to say, in the poem “Barbie Doll,” it says “Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs,” (Piercy 12). In other words, this is a metaphor, meaning that people did not care about the girl’s personality. The girl’s appearance mattered more than anything else. This contributes to the theme, because this shows how society sees girls. Another example is that in the poem, it says “Her good nature wore out like a fan belt” (Piercy 16-17). To put it differently, this is a simile, saying that the “girlchild” in the poem is tired of how everyone wants her to look beautiful and skinny. This relates and makes up the theme because after the girl killed herself when she could not take the pressure anymore, it emphasizes that society’s expectations can be dangerous. On the whole, the figurative language in this poem helps make up the theme of this
That is to say, in the poem “Barbie Doll,” it says “Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs,” (Piercy 12). In other words, this is a metaphor, meaning that people did not care about the girl’s personality. The girl’s appearance mattered more than anything else. This contributes to the theme, because this shows how society sees girls. Another example is that in the poem, it says “Her good nature wore out like a fan belt” (Piercy 16-17). To put it differently, this is a simile, saying that the “girlchild” in the poem is tired of how everyone wants her to look beautiful and skinny. This relates and makes up the theme because after the girl killed herself when she could not take the pressure anymore, it emphasizes that society’s expectations can be dangerous. On the whole, the figurative language in this poem helps make up the theme of this