For generations, Barbie has been the doll that most young girls aspire to be. Barbie can be many different things at the same time such as a business woman, a party girl, and a mother whose whole existence revolves around beauty. So, is Barbie the ideal woman? The poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy, shows the dangers of false standards and the consequence of their applications, in the lives of teenagers or young girls. In other words, this poem shows the outcomes of dissatisfaction with one’s self as a result of societies expectations for women.
3-Page Essay #1 “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy On a daily basis the media feeds us images of what they describe as perfect and beautiful people. From magazines, television, films, and even toys, society provides a mold of how women should look and act. More and more everyday woman are surrendering to the pressures of society and mold themselves into what they believe is ideal. In Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll”, the girl in the poem is very young when she hears a few careless words about her nose and weight. After that, she can only view herself as a big nose and fat thighs.
It is bad that Barbie, a 6 foot tall, 100 pound, size 0, infertile doll is possibly believed to be realistic and perfect (Bennett, Saren). She is one of many reasons young girls eventually develop a low self-esteem and an inaccurate idea of body image. Due to Barbie, young girls have also developed eating disorders, and the lust for unnecessary, unrealistic material objects. Girls should not be pressured about the way they look, act, and dress (Bennett, Saren). By definition, Barbie is a trademark doll representing a slim, shapely young woman, especially one with blond hair, blue eyes, and fair skin (Barbie).
Shirley Temple in the Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison represents the American ideal girl and a representation of the stigma related to not being white in a society. In one way or another all of the characters in the Bluest Eyes are obsessed with beauty and defining what beauty is to them. The blue eyes closely tie to Shirley temple and baby dolls and their representation of a hierarchy of race. “Along with the idea of romantic love, she was introduced to another—physical beauty. Probably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought.
The instructor of the Beauty School fixes her hair but she now looks like a girl with Peter Pan hair. Only a mother with atrocious dreams for her daughter will blame a little girl for the beautician messing up the daughter's hair, as if the daughter has any control over the situation. After the Shirley Temple does not work out as well as planned, her mother decides for her to memorize all the capitals; when Jing-Mei cannot do that her mother wants her to multiply numbers in her
My intelligence was offended when Teacher Barbie came out in the 90’s but had to be recalled because she didn’t wear panties. Mattel that was tasteless and wrong. I never understood the whole concept of playing with a teenage doll when I was little. What were girls thinking? Didn't they play with dolls to change diapers and feed them?
Some might say that the unrealistic shape of Barbie will hurt young girls’ perception, but as one of the designers of Barbie company say “girls’ perceptions are so different than grown ups’ perceptions about what real is and what real isn’t….. Girls view the world completely differently than grown-ups do” (Birdie, 2014). This statement explains the unrealistic shape of Barbie dolls as it shows that the Barbie dolls are created to fit in young girls’ world and not the opposite. The thought of Barbie dolls having a bad influence on kids is totally wrong. Barbie dolls are just a source of entertainment for kids and meanwhile it cherishes their dreams.
The Journey of Self Loathing It is hard to imagine what life would be like to constantly hate and be hated for something that cannot change; unfortunately this is how Pecola Breedlove must live every day of her life. The Bluest Eye, written by Toni Morrison, is based on the lives of young black girls in 1941. In the girl’s society only white is beautiful and the closer someone is to white, the closer he or she is to perfection. Pecola and her friend, Claudia, are persistently ridiculed by their society for their blackness. Claudia does not want to believe that she is not beautiful the way she is while Pecola wants to become beautiful by becoming white.
One side for when she’s home, and one side for when she’s out with her friends. Because of these two sides to Connie, she comes face to face with the evil side of danger, “Arnold Friend.” Coming face to face with Arnold Friend, causes Connie to have an epiphany. Connie is always looking at herself in the mirror every chance she got. Her mother was always scolding her about it, “Stop gawking at yourself, who are you? You think you’re so pretty?” she would say to her.
The Barbie Doll, a brainchild of the Mattel Corporation, was invented in 1959. It was meant to serve as a toy for kids. Its designer, Ruth Handler had watched her own daughter play with dolls and learned that kids enjoyed giving dolls adult roles; she drew inspiration from the German fashion doll Bild Lilli to create the Barbie doll. Decades later, it has become subject to a number of controversies ranging from its lack of diversity in terms of race to body size; the latter is still a social issue. The Barbie doll has ridiculous body dimensions, with its signature larger than life eyes, swan-like neck, full pointy bust, trim waist-line and incredibly long legs.