Barbie Doll + Qs — the old fashioned way

Barbie Doll

This girlchild was born as usual

and presented dolls that did pee-pee

and miniature GE stoves and irons

and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.

Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said: 5

You have a great big nose and fat legs.

She was healthy, tested intelligent,

possessed strong arms and back,

abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.

She went to and fro apologizing. 10

Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.

She was advised to play coy,

exhorted to come on hearty,

exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.

Her good nature wore out 15

like a fan belt.

So she cut off her nose and her legs

and offered them up.

In the casket displayed on satin she lay

with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on, 20

a turned-up putty nose,

dressed in a pink and white nightie.

Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said.

Consummation at last.

To every woman a happy ending. 25

—Marge Piercy

Questions:

1. In what ways is the girl described in this poem different from a Barbie doll? Discuss the poem’s contrast of the living girl, a human being with intelligence and healthy appetites, and the doll, an inanimate object.
2. The poem contains a surprising but apt simile: “Her good nature wore out / like a fan belt” (15-16). Why is the image of the fan belt appropriate here?
3. Why does the speaker mention the girl’s “strong arms and back” (8) and her “manual dexterity” (9)? How do these qualities contribute to her fate?
4. Discuss the verbal irony in the phrase “the magic of puberty” (5) and in the last three lines. What is the target of this satire?