Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy Poem Analysis

Since its appearance in 1959, a plastic girls' toy named Barbie has become an icon for little girls everywhere. Barbie, however, has caused some controversy. Many parents have argued that Barbie's figure represents an absurd standard for a body shape and gives their children the wrong impression about what their body should look like as they grow up. Some people have claimed that Barbie's features sexualize women and make little girls hate their bodies. In the poem "Barbie Doll," Marge Piercy uses visual imagery to call attention to how society sexualizes women and expects women to be perfect within their standards of perfection. 

In the second stanza of "Barbie Doll," Piercy uses visual imagery to describe the woman's characteristics using adjectives that one would use to describe an animal. Piercy describes the woman as, "She was healthy, tested intelligent, / possessed strong arms and back, / abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity" (Piercy 7-9). Piercy uses this visual imagery to communicate to the reader how society looks upon this woman. This negatively displays the woman because Piercy describes her with animal-like features instead of feminine features. The description also sexualizes the woman when Piercy addresses her body type and sexual drive. The poem does not describe the woman's personality or character; it only describes her body.

Piercy starts the final stanza with sarcastic, visual imagery to describe the woman's characteristics after the beautician had modified her face to meet the standards of the society around her:

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. (lines 19-23)

As the woman lies in a casket, society approves her appearance after the beautician has made her acceptable to society. Due to the fact that the woman took her own life to rid herself of her unattractive appearance, the undertaker's cosmetics is an ironic way to prove that society only sees women as beautiful or perfect until it is perfected within their standards of beauty.  The woman's sense of horridness vanished, but the opinions failed to die.

Marge Piercy's "Barbie Doll" uses ironic, visual imagery to show how society sexualizes women and their bodies and expects them to meet their standards of beauty. Piercy used a Barbie doll to reveal how society sexualizes women and describe the absurd body standards. This poem causes Piercy's audience to take a closer look at how much a woman has to go through to meet standards. If they do not, they are ridiculed and bullied, and this may eventually lead these women to suicide in relation to the woman in "Barbie Doll."