Poem Number 2

Barbie Doll
Marge Piercy

This girlchild was born as usual
and presented dolls that did pee-pee
and miniature GE stoves and irons
and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.
Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:
You have a great big nose and fat legs.

She was healthy, tested intelligent,
possessed strong arms and back,
abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.
She went to and fro apologizing.
Everyone saw a fat nose and thick legs.

She was advised to play coy,
exhorted to come on hearty,
exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.
Her good nature wore outlike a fan belt.
So she cut off her nose and her legs
and offered them up.

In the casket displayed on satin she lay
with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on,
a turned-up putty nose,dressed in a pink and white nightie.
Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said.
Consummation at last.
To every woman a happy ending.

Title : Barbie Doll
The Title seems like it is telling us that the audience for this poem is females.
It also sounds like the poem is going to be a poem about looking back to the time
being a child, or about being a child.
The first thing I thought of when I heard the title was pink.
It seems happy and young.

Paraphrase:
A girl was born and during her life as a child, she experienced things
most other girls experienced. she was presented with fake material.
Then when she became an actual girl, everyone started talking about her looks.

She wasn't ugly. She was a healthy, nice, and intelligent girl.
But she had to apologize
to everyone because she was "ugly".

Everyone gave her advices but they all made no sense. But she took those nonsenses
and she wasn't herself anymore. And because she didn't like herself anymore,
she gave up on herself.

She becamse a completely different person. Everyone liked her. Her life was "fulfilled" at last.


Connotation

Attitude: I seriously don't get the attitude. Will be updated after a talk with Mrs. Emery.

Shifts

Title: I think the title is talking about how the girl actually became a barbie doll.
Or it's about how the girl lost herself while growing up.

Theme: I think the theme of this poem is "don't believe what other people say too easily."
The girlchild in this poem "cut off" her nose and her legs. She was placed in a casket, displayed on a satin, painted by somebody else. She was made somebody else. It was all because one classmate said "You have a great big nose and fat legs."