“Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy

The basic idea of Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” is the obsessive necessity to be good-looking in people eyes and the craving to live their life according to other’s principles instead of one’s particular ethics. “Barbie Doll” is considered as a fake of social acceptance. The poem critisiczes the woman’s aspiration to look in a certain way to please and attract the people around her. (Camden, Loeser, N.p.). The title of the poem flawlessly presents the meaning depicted inside the poem. The barbie doll is recognized as the “heroine” figure that all women wish to bear a resemblance to. The much famed barbie doll signifies the prerequisite to have bodily qualities is according to a assured prototype.
Piercy smoothly defines how the woman’s decent nature wore out with time. Her contentment is underneath the disgust that ascends due to the sore judgements that comes storming towards her from the society. She cannot take the compression any longer. Piercy label the teenager as a usual kid, with delightful, significant abilities and a big heart. “To every woman a happy ending/Consummation at last/”. In these big statements Piercy recapitulates her clarification of society and its authority over women’s life. She ridicules that “a happy ending” only comes from a bodily attractiveness that fulfills social anticipations.

Life develops in to a struggle to be seen as modern and glamorous. Due to this thinking when a person is lying in the caskat, society only cknowledges the physical luxuries of a person and not the inner beauty of the person (Camden, Loeser, N.p.). The poet gives this tormented society a name, Piercy calls them as “the undertakers,” i.e those who deal with the funeral of the deceased.
Piercy tells about a story of a female who is tormented by the upsetting words of the society and eventually modifies her physical appearance in order to satisfy harsh social standards. With the development of society, materialism and greediness has become present in our lives. Modern generation is enforced to keep up with intensifying principles that are overpowering and damaging (Camden, Loeser, N.p.). As illustrated by Marge Piercy in “Barbie Doll,” the women confronted such pressure by society to fit in with their norms ans standards, that she disastrously took her own life.

“Marked” by Linda Pastan

Short Poem “Marks” is Written by Linda Pastan. This poem gives detail into the life of a discontented wife, who is also a mother of two children and who shows her deep annonyances being a mother and a housewife as well. The poem is all about a family house but they appear to assume everything like they are still in school where students are judged on the basis of their grades only (Justine, Clark. N. p.). Pastan uses a metaphor comparing her life to school in the poem. Each family member is judging her and they are giving her “marks” based on her performance. The grades she obtains from her family motivate and drive her. The battle she has with these marks results in a huge conflict with her husband and her children. These marks also causes inner struggle with herself.

To remove the marks they made on her, she is “dropping out” of their principles, competition they made for her to impress them. She understands that she is being betrayed and a result of it she wishes to start a new life in order to find her worth. she has decided to leave her kids and her husband and “last night’s dinner” was certainly the last they had being together. Metaphor “marks” has numerous implications, it provides the poem a sense of deep intellect. Nowadays people only put focus on grades, grades conclude what type of individual you are. From childhood days our lives were assessed by grades not only in school but also in university life. This poem was all about the life and how woman are always limited in their life due to grades, making her live in precincts established by others (Justine, Clark. N. p.). Linda Pastan’s Poem strikes its readers Immediately in two different ways, firstly the poem is ironic and secondly has a bit of humor to it as well. The poet implements the rating symbol in speaking about how the mother is sick and exhausted of being assessed all the time for her acts.  The notion is amusing, and it’s a humorous way to turn a situation all the way around.  But the last two lines of the poem is very striking in a dark sense of way.  The poem concludes in a dark way by assuming that dropping out is suicide, If life is rated.

“Please Fire Me” by Deborah Garrison

“Please Fire me” is written by Deborah Garrison. It was intended to be carved in a certain way that can only be understood correspondingly to the way individuals gossip generally. Deborah Garrison is succuesful in developing a technique that she inscribed sues word that individuals used in their standard vocabulary and the broad tone of a somebody who is simply irritated with the world she lives in can be assumed by anyone in this day and age.
The major theme in this Deborah Garrison’s poem is male chauvinism in the work place that is affecting working women in a huge way. The people in responsibility of controlling the workplace in this poem are males and the women are definite inferiors in contrast to them. The men are designated as the alpha dogs while the women are designated as “silly little hens”. The men in this poem are not seen in agood way, men try to seduce female coworkers and harass them. Even with all the undesirable light it is evident that in workplace, the men have the power and the women have to obey and agree to what the men say unless they wish for unemployment.

The presenter in this poem expresses the poem in a manner of someone who has had enough with the dominance of male in her work place. Due to this discrimination, she badly wants to get out of there as soon as possible. She has been treated so unfairly in her workplace that all her confidence in working with freedom is gone. She feels highly oppressed by this alpha male dominenece (Christopher, Lehmann-Haupt, N.p.). The poem can be assumed and described in a way that women is unfolding how she is harassed and manipulated by their male coworkers for the past few years in her workplace. The poem is in a way a grievance of a office where in which a female is exposed to many things that she must take in stride and smile at all of the injustices thrown at her . The speaker disgusts this racist beahviour but she has a firm believe that even going to some other workplace won’t assured her that she will never have to face this type of inhumane behavior again. All the women who had unfriendly and nasty experiences in her workplace could relate to this poem. But despite all this unfair treatment and wanting to get away from all of it, She is still doing it and facing this unfair treatment.

Works Cited

Camden, Loeser. “Barbie Doll” By Marge Piercy.” What Lies Within the Text. N. p. (2013)

“Linda Pastan: Poems Study Guide: Analysis.” Gradesaver.com. N. p.( 2018)

“The Marks That Once Marked Her Life – Linda Pastan’s Poem “Marks”. – University Linguistics, Classics And Related Subjects.” Markedbyteachers.com. N. p. (2018)

Christopher, Lehmann-Haupt. “A Working Girl Can’t Win’: Disappointments With Father, Work, Life.” Nytimes.com. N. p., (1998)

Justine, Clark “Dr. Chick.” Drchick.wikispaces.com. N. p., (2013)