Marge Piercy's poem "Barbie Doll" is a social commentary
on the unreasonably high expectations for women as set by society. The poem makes it
clear this standard is impossible to achieve--at least not while one is alive--and
starts with something relatively careless at a young age. The first stanzas outline an
average girl's life up to the point where someone makes a random but hurtful comment
about the size of her nose and her weight. From then on, everything she thinks about
herself is shaped by that perceived insult until she finally commits suicide because
she succumbs to the pressures and can no longer cope.
The
last stanza is a little different in tone, for it is the author's commentary on her
death, and it is riddled with satire.
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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.
The visual Piercy
creates is eerily similar to a pink-clothed Barbie doll in her packaged box which one
might pull off the shelf in any toy store. The comments of the funeral-goers (all of
whom are undoubtedly showing much more interest in her now than when she was alive) may
be accurate, but they are satiric, as well. She was undoubtedly prettier alive than
dead, but they could not or did not tell her so. If they had, this young girl might
still be alive. The "consummation" line is satiric, in that this girl has finally
achieved her goal of looking pretty in others' eyes but is no longer alive to enjoy or
appreciate the adulation.
The last line, then, is probably
rather satiric as well and therefore open to some interpretation. There are no true
"happy endings" in the poem, and Piercy is commenting on the fact that this is not an
uncommon problem with women and society. The last line, if rewritten, might read
something like this: To all women who listen to what society tells you, this is the only
way you will ever make society happy. It might also read like this: If being pretty by
society standards is your goal, women, this is how to achieve it. Or perhaps you have
another slant on this line. In any case, the satire is evident.
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