Barbie Doll Q1

In Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll, the difference between real life and ideals is shown well. A girl is seen to her peers as simply "a fat nose on thick legs." The girl was in fact smart healthy and athleticism. Because she was not the ideal, she was received poorly by her fellow students. Their image of the perfect woman was a barbie doll. While this girl was not as thin or as beautiful as a Barbie, she had attributes those do not. She was a real person with real feelings that was disregarded. The people saw her as less than herself. Because of this horrific treatment she felt there was no other option than to kill herself. There is immense irony, that once she has killed herself because of the lack of beauty she feels for herself she is finally seen as beautiful. This poem is a sad tale of a girl who lacks confidence and ends her life prematurely because of the criticisms of others.