Barbie Doll

Piercy opens the poem with a character she refers to by a compound noun, “girlchild” (Line 1), telling us that for this character, the identity of being a girl is tied to that of being a child. The child is gendered from birth. She doesn’t give any further identification: only that she was born “as usual” (Line 1). She becomes an allegory for many girls and women. She is a usual, normal girl. In Line 2, the girlchild is “presented” with a list of toys. Piercy uses formal diction, writing “presented” rather than something like “given” in order to remove any sense of choice and to instill a tone of dictation for this ceremony.

The toys given foreshadow the expectations for the girlchild and what is to come. She is given “dolls that did pee-pee” (Line 2) to prepare her and to tell her to expect motherhood. She is given “miniature GE stoves and irons” (Line 3) in order to teach her to keep house. She is given “wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy” (Line 4) to instill the value of beauty, and, insidiously, is tricked in a way, given that the lipsticks are the color of something sweet like candy.

The poet jumps forward in the timeline in Line 5, where the character enters the “magic of puberty” (Line 5), employing the use of irony with the word “magic.” A classmate tells the girl “you have a great big nose and fat legs” (Line 6), which was, of course, not magical at all for her to hear.

In the next stanza, Piercy details the girl’s strengths, telling us that she is “healthy” and “tested intelligent” (Line 7). These attributes are not things that are societally thought of as important for women to be. The health of women and their intellectual capabilities particularly do not matter in the world of this poem. The character possesses other qualities that do not align to the roles and standards set for women. “She possessed strong arms and back” (Line 8), a physical quality which does not fit with societal expectations for women’s bodies. The character even has an “abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity” (Line 9). “Manual dexterity” here may refer to being skilled in a hands-on pastime, but it seems to be an innuendo when paired with “abundant sexual drive,” alluding to the character’s skill and capabilities with sex. Particularly during the time period in which this was written, it was taboo for women to openly desire sex or to be perceived as sexually skilled or experienced.

Piercy moves onward, writing that the girl “went to and fro apologizing” (Line 10), not only telling us that the character is apologizing for her attributes, but also touching on the societal expectation for women to constantly apologize, to be meek and demure. The poet uses repetition in Line 11, telling the reader much like she did in Line 6 that “everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.” This repetition drives home the persistence with which the character was criticized for her appearance. It is of note here that race is an important aspect of this poem. Although never directly mentioned by Piercy within the piece, Barbie Dolls have historically been criticized for upholding thinness, whiteness, and specific facial features as a beauty standard, and as a tool of racism, antisemitism, and misogyny.

In the following stanza, the girl receives conflicting advice, being told to “play coy” (Line 12) but also to “come on hearty” (Line 13). This conflicting advice further drives home the point the poet is making about societal expectations for women being essentially unwinnable—she is telling us as she mentions in Line 10 that women are expected to apologize even for their positive attributes, and that even the things they do “right” can be seen as wrong. The character is told to “exercise, diet, smile and wheedle” (Line 14). Again thinness is emphasized, with her being told to exercise and diet, and a certain gendered performance is expressed in her being told to smile and wheedle. All of these gender roles, conflicting expectations, and criticisms burn her out: “Her good nature / wore out like a fan belt” (Lines 15-16). The simile, comparing the character’s good nature to a fan belt, connects back to the second stanza, where Piercy describes her using strong, robust terms, and connects to some of Piercy’s other work of this era, such as “What Are Big Girls Made Of?” In the poem, she describes women through mechanical terms (Piercy, Marge. “What Are Big Girls Made Of?” Best Poems.net, Accessed 9 October 2021). The character in “Barbie Doll” goes on to end her life: “So she cut off her nose and legs / and offered them up” (Lines 17-18). She offers the very things for which she was so repeatedly criticized.

In the final stanza of “Barbie Doll,” the character doesn’t only lay in her casket, she is “displayed on satin” (Line 19). Through this use of diction, the poet is telling us that the girl is objectified even in death. She has been posthumously painted, modified, and dressed, with “the undertaker’s cosmetics painted on” (Line 20), a “turned-up putty nose” (Line 21), and “a pink and white nightie” (Line 22). It’s not until death that she is able to achieve the beauty standards placed on her and be seen as beautiful by others. The people attending her funeral, finally pleased with her appearance, say “doesn’t she look pretty?” (Line 23). In Line 24, when the poet writes, “consummation at last,” she is using irony, telling us that the character is finally “complete,” has finally achieved her life’s goal but paid for it with her life. In the final line, “to every woman a happy ending,” irony is used one last time with the use of a pseudo-fairytale-ending, criticizing what it takes for a woman to actually match the gender roles, beauty ideals, and societal expectations placed on her.