Barbie Doll By Marge Piercy

When reading the poem entitled "Barbie Doll" by Marge Piercy i was immediately attracted to the subject of the piece.  Not only is there a very dark tone throughout the poem, but there is also a deep sense of connection that i felt the author had to what she wrote.  The poem discusses the issues faced by young girls when they hit puberty and the pressure society puts on them to be "beautiful" in a completely artificial sense of the word.  The author speaks of the girl in the poem being intelligent, good natured and healthy, but those features failed to surpass the barrier of superficial beauty.  Repeating the line "big nose and fat legs" or using synonyms to do so, instills the issue in the readers mind which this girl is forced to face, until finally what i felt was the climax of the poem, when the girl cuts off her nose and legs to rid herself of that which was the focus of scrutiny.  The line i enjoyed most and what i felt really captured and exemplified the very dark tone throughout the poem was the second to last line where the author wrote "consummation at last" referring to after the girl died, and she was done up by the undertaker, every saw the beauty she could not find herself without all of the makeup.  It is a very depressing view of how the author feels society views beauty because it does not take makeup to be beautiful, and beauty is definitely not and external thing.