Short Composition Analysis of the poem ‘Barbie Doll’ written by Marge Piercy (1973).
This girl child 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 on thick legs. She was advised to play coy, Exhorted to come on hearty, Exercise, diet, smile and wheedle. Her good nature wore out Like 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. Robert Frost beautifully said that “Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.” In fact, poems are all about expressing deep secretly kept feelings through the handling of language. Poetry is a shareable and universal language of specific states of heart to which any reader can identify himself / herself . It is the voice which says the truth. Quite often, delicate subjects lead to sensitive poem like the one of Marge Piercy that we are now going to scan.
In the following stanzas, the poetess portrays the hard life of an innocent girl, victim of the society criteria. The poem has been shaped according to three leading themes: innocence, persecution and death, as we will now see. First of all, if we closely look at the first stanza, the most important one, the innocence of childhood is being depicted through the musicality of the verses. There is an assonance in “i” which sounds like a childish voice (world of innocence) and an alliteration in “s” which insists on the smoothness of this universe. Meanwhile, we will notice that the poetess does know the little girl as she uses the definite pronoun “This” (verse 1).
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She describes her as being innocent, na ” ive and passive as shown by the passive form: “was born; was presented” (verses 1-2).
During her childhood, everything seems to go on quite well: she plays with girl games like “dolls; GE stoves; lipsticks” (v. 1-4) and she is living a “magic puberty” (v. 5).
Unfortunately, however, a gloomy menace is slowly arising. In the fifth verse, the adverb “Then in the magic of puberty” introduces a turning point in the poem, an event which will have an impact upon the little girl’s life. Both the assonance in “a” in the sixth verse and the preterit “said” in the active form break the curse of the poem.
It calls on the onomatopoeia “ah ah ah” which insists on the muckraking of the girl by her bully. Her life may never be the same as the magic of her puberty has been tarnished. If we now consider the second stanza, we have the very first depiction of the little girl. From the verses 7 to 9, we have an enumeration of her qualities: “healthy; intelligent; strong arms and back; abundant sexual drive; manual dexterity” making her look like a goddess.
However this enumeration does not fit with the previous ‘observation’ made by the classmate. And we almost get the impression that with her “strong arms and back” she will be able to overcome this humiliation and fight for her integrity (echo with v. 6).
The tenth verse highlights the contradiction between the poetess description of the girl and the girl’s actual state of mind. She looks strong but a wound makes her suffering. Why is she making apologies? For being ‘different’? It may be the reason as explained by the generality made in verse 11: “everyone.” The entire world seems to be against her and they all perceive her ‘ugliness’.
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She resembles the metaphor “a fat nose on thick legs.” This verse witnesses as well to her body’s evolution from “great big nose and fat legs” to “fat nose on thick legs.” Her abnormality is even more knowledgeable now that she is a grown-up girl. Then in the third stanza, we are facing a robot. The others have a great power over her as she is under commandment “was advised; exhorted” and she is dictated to: “play coy; come on hearty; exercise; diet; smile; wheedle.” The comas even insist on the accumulation of the things-to-do. She has to change her character, to be hypocrite.
She is maltreated both verbally and physically. In fact, verses 15 and 16 echoes with verse 9. Her “strong back” may be hit by a belt and “her good nature” insists on her weakness, on her lack of self-confidence. She is slowly loosing herself in the poisoned flow of commands submerging her, like a boat ready to be engulfed by the sea. Nonetheless, the verse 17 introduces a new turning-point because of its opening adverb “so.” In fact, the active form of the verb “she cut off” shows the brutality of her wakening. We slide for the very first time from a passive behaviour (previous verses) to an active one.
She is revolting against her bullies, she is taking her life in hand or at least her death… Is it positive? Not at all as she decided to give up life instead of fighting against these prejudices. This decisive step is one of great strength as she even “offered them up” her nose and legs. She is the one who did what everybody wanted to inflict to her but never dared.
This morbid and ironic image highlights her distress and her anger against them. However strong this image is, it is again a passive behaviour as she decided to pass away and to offer the objects of reject instead of speaking out loud her anger. Finally, the last stanza is one of great importance as it retraces the life of the girl who went through life with the Sword of Damocles upon her shoulder. She suffered a lot and death is now her only salvation. In the verse 19, we fear a lack of respect even in death as the sentence inversion enlightens the casket rather than the girl.
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However there is a contradiction between their disdain and the luxurious textile “satin” on which she lay. The use of the word “casket” increases this idea of preciousness established by “satin” as it calls on the image of the casket of jewellery. Did she become precious and beautiful in death? Apparently, it is the case. The use of the lexical field of cosmetics and beauty strengthens this idea: “cosmetics; painted; putty; look; consummation.” And so does the verse 21 “a turned-up putty noise.” This nose is not unfamiliar to us…
it looks like the one of Cleopatra, the most beautiful queen of Egypt centuries ago, well-know for her turned-up nose. The beauty of the dead girl is even greater with the clothes she wears in her casket: “a pink and white nightie.” It increases the purity and innocence coming out of her since the very beginning of the poem but tarnished by the bullies. The verse 23 is then of a tremendous importance as “everyone” is looking at her to see if she finally suits the physical standards of beauty in death. “Putty” (v. 21) and “consummation at last” (v. 24) echo and highlight the falsity of her surrounding and the importance given to the ‘facade’.
Maybe she is cutter in death because of this “putty nose” created thanks surgery. We may wonder if the poetess shares the beliefs of these foolish people. According to the two last verses we can clearly see that she does not. There is irony in her words as a “happy ending” is only possible when fulfilling the consumer society’s criteria instead of founding one’s real identity. If sharing feelings is one of the aims of a poem, opening the reader’s eyes can be another one. Through this poem, Marge Piercy has succeeded to take life by the throat, to capture the real essence of it.
The expression of deep feelings has become possible for both the reader and the poetess, who shares her grief and anger against the devastating stereotypes of the consumer society. Words: 1230.
