"Barbie Doll" by Marge Piercy is a poem showing how girls are entrapped by society's view of how they should act and look. The poem demonstrates this in the structure, title, theme and stanzas. By showing the stages of the girl's life, The poem reveals how she is standardized as a woman in looks, actions and lives and unhappy life.
The structure of the poem "Barbie Doll" illustrates the changing in the young girl. In the first stanza the use of words such as "pee-pee" and "wee" show a very young child. The second stanza uses more complex wording showing the girl has aged into a young woman. The structure helps the reader grow older with the girl.
The title of "Barbie Doll" shows how young girls are brought up to be just like the toy Barbie. Toy Barbie's come in perfect shape showing how a girl is supposed to look. The toys come with irons and pans depicting what type of work a girl will do when she gets older. A Barbie doll is societies version of a perfect women, and young girls have this image pushed onto them by the doll and others like it.
The theme of the poem "Barbie Doll" is to show how men rule the social structure for women. The poem illustrates how girls are brought up to be obedient to men in looks and career. If a woman does not meet these criteria, society will shun her. "Barbie Doll" shows how a intelligent, healthy young girl is beat down by the picture society wants her to fit.
The stanzas in the poem present the reader with an image of how a young girl is molded into a woman in life. The first stanza tells about the toys the girl gets, such as the stove, irons and lipstick that all young women have and are expected to use when they mature. The end of the first stanza "the magic of puberty" and "you have a great big nose and fat legs" tell of how young people have this idealistic view of how a women should look and if they do not fit this description they are criticized.