Stereotypes Of Marge Piercy

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1. Identify several stereotypes that Marge Piercy draws on in this poem. Why is girl-child- one word- an appropriate term? One of the stereotypes that Piercy draws on in this poem is their obsession with their body, with their need to appear skinny. She does this in order to show how the obsession that the girlchild has with her own body was one of the largest factors in the suicide. Another one of the stereotypes that Piercy draws upon is their behavior. Piercy describes how the girlchild was told to “play coy.” This describes the societal pressure of what is stereotypically “lady-like.” She was “advised” to act as other ladies would act, and she tried to the furthest extent she could manage. She attempted to act demure and sweet, which was the only thing society allowed for. The term…show more content…
The word is a culmination of not only the naivety of a child, but also the pressures and assumptions that are made of a girl that is growing up in the world where she is expected to be stereotypically lady-like. 2. What images and colors does Piercy use to depict the girlchild? One of the images that Piercy used was her childhood playthings. They were the stereotypical toys of the girl, and help to create the image of the stereotypical “girlchild” in the mind. This then continued into when it described how the classmate described her “great big nose and fat legs.” This helps to create the picture that she is no longer the little girlchild that was perfect in every way in the view of society. Instead, she has become different, because she has features that go against the stereotypical definition of beauty that is defined by today’s modern culture. The fact

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