Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” dramatizes a “girldchild” and her predicament in four free verse paragraphs.
First Verse Paragraph – “This girlchild was born as usual”
In the first verse paragraph, the speaker announces that this young woman was born naturally; then she played with the usual dolls that were being offered for her generation. She also played with toy household appliances. By the time she reached puberty, however, she was confronted with the accusing words of fellow student, who told her she had a “big nose and fat legs.”
Second Verse Paragraph – “She was healthy, tested intelligent”
Next, the speaker claims that the girl enjoyed good health, and she was smart. She was even strong; she “possessed strong arms and back.” And she skillfully performed physical tasks and mental tasks, such as those required by school assignments. But she had become obsessed with her big nose and legs, so she “went to and fro apologizing” for her unlovely qualities.
Third Verse Paragraph – “She was advised to play coy”
Apparently, someone encouraged the girl “play coy” and to “come on hearty”—two mutually exclusive acts, which must have confused the girl. She was also encouraged to watch what she ate and to get exercise to reduce the size of her fat legs, no doubt. But she was also encouraged to “smile and wheedle.” More confusion.
The poor girl did not know what she was supposed to do or be. So she went from being a healthy, capable young girl to a confused, depressed adolescent, and then she commits suicides. The speaker dramatizes the suicide by metaphorically likening her act to “cut[ting] off her nose and her legs / and offer[ing] them up.”
This surreal act works well, because it does not matter how the girl actually committed the act of suicide; she did it because of her big nose and legs. In order to cut off her nose and legs, she had to sacrifice her whole body and mind.
Fourth Verse Paragraph – “In the casket displayed on satin she lay”
In the fourth verse paragraph, the speaker describes the young woman as she looks in her casket. Of course, the legs are no problem there, since a casket viewing entails only the upper torso, but the nose has been reconstructed by the mortician, and he has applied make-up and dressed her in “a pink and white nightie.”
The magic of the mortician’s hand has turned his poor girl’s body into something she would have been proud to live in. And those people who view her comment, “Doesn’t she look pretty?” The speaker is outraged by the hypocrisy, no doubt, thinking that if the girl had been told she was pretty while she was still alive, perhaps she would still be alive.
The speaker expresses her disgust by sarcastically exclaiming, “Consummation at last. / To every woman a happy ending.”
A Feminist Statement
This poem makes a strong feminist statement about how young girls and young women may be misdirected by unrealistic societal norms for feminine beauty. The speaker of the poem wants her readers to realize that this perfectly normal, strong, healthy young woman should have been encouraged to develop her mind and soul, but instead she was led astray by confusing ideas about the rôles for women and the standards for their physical features.
