Thursday, September 23, 2010

POUI Blog #2

7.

The central theme of the poem "Barbie Doll" by Marge Piercy is that society cannot accept natural beauty of women, who grow up thinking that they need to be perfect like Barbie. The girl in the poem held qualities mostly associated with men in society, which causes her to feel the pressure of society. As a result of feeling inadequate, she "went to and fro apologizing" (line 10). This is sad because she was not what women were 'supposed' to be. Although she had great skill in manual labor, society only pointed out her appearance as being flawed. By saying that she was "wore out like a fan belt" (line14-15), it is implied that she is not what everyone else looks like, but it is not a bad thing, just society wants everyone the same. The irony of this poem is seeing when people say she is most beautiful when she was dead. This is so sad to see that society is that concerned with the outside rather than what is inside. Overall, this poem shows how distorted the perception of people is today in society.

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