“Barbie Doll” And “La Migra”

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The poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy explains about a young girl who killed herself by cutting her nose and her legs because she was tired of people criticizing her imperfect physical appearance. “La Migra” by Pat Mora explains about a Mexican woman playing “hide and run”. In “La Migra” one person was the border patrol, and the author a typical Mexican maid. The poems are very different in that they have two different topics and have two completely different tones. Putting aside the differences they have a trait in common; they are true life stories that happen to women on a daily basis. The poem “Barbie Doll” is very different from the poem “La Migra.” It is a very discouraging poem because the destructiveness of the standards of female beauty led to the girl’s death. The young girl classmates used to make fun of her big nose and fat legs. “Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.”(line 6). She got to the point that she was not strong enough to take all the pressure, so she cut herself up and offered her legs and nose up. In the poem “La Migra,” it is a whole different concept. The Mexican woman, referred to as the Mexican maid, had a different attitude. She is a strong woman who does not get intimidated very easily. While playing the game “hide and run,” she was suppose to stay quiet while the border patrol did whatever he wanted to with her. He had the boots, the gun, the badge, and he was the authority, and there was nothing she could do about it, because he had the strength to hurt her. Then she flipped the game around, she stood up for herself as the Mexican maid who knew the desert better than the border patrol did. The border patrol had a flat tire and had no water, and he did not know a place to rest. Now she had the power: she

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