Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy.
This poem tells a dark and rather realistic story with an extreme end. Commercialism today emphasizes flaws that women have and how the world today teaches women to be passive. The beginning creates the image of the dolls that pee and the mini kitchen set, which is very in line with the ideas of the 50's, that women were made to cook and mother children.
The extreme in this poem is the woman's response to the criticism, she cut off her nose and legs to rid herself of the imperfections that others saw in her.
"To every woman a happy ending" (Piercy, line 25).
This poem like the previous two stories, highlights a stereotype that is present in the real world. That is that women are expected to be pretty and do their duty as a woman, something that sounds absurd to the ear, but if you look at the material world, toys for women are essentially raising girls to cook and take care of children. Scary right.
This seems to be a poem to inspire girls to resist the material world and the judgement of others.
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