Irony In Margie Piercy's Barbie Girl

Beauty, a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight. Beautiful, of a very high standard; excellent. These two words control all aspect of a woman’s life. They spend most of their time making themselves look nice to please society. For instance, they wear make-up, designer clothes and shoes, nice jewelry, and they make sure their hair is always done nicely. This idea that women has to look good for society is the main theme in Margie Piercy’s “Barbie Girl”. In the poem “Barbie Girl”, the poet Margie Piercy uses insulting irony and mocking simile to convey a shift from innocence to corruption illustrating the poet’s attitude that being called pretty shouldn’t be “consummation at last”. …show more content…
The girl in the poem was just like any other girl. She was innocent to the evils of the world and the horrors women go through because of society. Until one of her classmates pointed out that she had, “a great big nose and fat legs” (line 6), even thought, “[s]he was healthy, tested intelligent, / possessed strong arms and back” (lines 7-8). The only thing she could focus on was her nose and legs. She attempted everything and when nothing worked so, “she cut off her nose and her legs” (line 17). It wasn’t until she was laying in her coffin that everyone saw her as being beautiful, which is ironic and insulting. Society didn’t see her as being a beautiful when she was alive, but now that she is dead, society wants to recognize her as being beautiful, “consummation at last” (line 24). She got the recognition she wanted, but payed a hefty price in the end for