The basic idea of Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” is the obsessive necessity to be good-looking in people’s eyes and the craving to live their life according to other’s principles instead of one’s particular ethics. “Barbie Doll” is considered a fake for social acceptance. The poem criticizes 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 having bodily qualities according to an 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 judgments that come storming towards her from society. She cannot take the compression any longer. Piercy labels 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 lives. She ridicules that “a happy ending” only comes from a bodily attractiveness that fulfils social anticipations.
Life develops into a struggle to be seen as modern and glamorous. Due to this thinking, when a person is lying in the casket, society only acknowledges 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 “the undertakers,” i.e. those who deal with the funeral of the deceased.
Piercy tells the story of a female who is tormented by the upsetting words of society and eventually modifies her physical appearance in order to satisfy harsh social standards. With the development of society, materialism and greediness have become present in our lives. The modern generation is forced to keep up with intensifying principles that are overpowering and damaging (Camden, Loeser, N.p.). As illustrated by Marge Piercy in “Barbie Doll,” the woman confronted such pressure by society to fit in with their norms and standards that she disastrously took her own life.
“Marked” by Linda Pastan
The short poem “Marks” was written by Linda Pastan. This poem gives details about the life of a discontented wife, who is also a mother of two children and shows her deep annoyance as a mother and a housewife. The poem is all about a family house, but they appear to assume everything as if they are still in school, where students are judged only on the basis of their grades (Justine, Clark. N. p.). Pastan uses a metaphor comparing her life to school in the poem. Each family member judges her, and they give 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 cause an inner struggle with herself.
To remove the marks they made on her, she is “dropping out” of their principles and competition they made for her to impress them. She understands that she is being betrayed, and as 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 been together. Metaphor “marks” has numerous implications, it provides the poem with a sense of deep intellect. Nowadays people only put focus on grades, grades conclude what type of individual you are. From childhood, our lives were assessed by grades not only in school but also in university. This poem was all about life and how women are always limited in their lives due to grades, making them 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, it has a bit of humour to it as well. The poet implements the rating symbol in speaking about how the mother is sick and exhausted from 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. However, the last two lines of the poem are very striking in a dark sense. 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 successful in developing a technique that she inscribed using words that individuals used in their standard vocabulary, and the broad tone of 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 Deborah Garrison’s poem is male chauvinism in the workplace, which is affecting working women in a huge way. The people responsible for 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 a good way; men try to seduce female coworkers and harass them. Even with all the undesirable light, it is evident that in the workplace, the men have the power, and the women have to obey and agree with what the men say unless they wish for unemployment.
The presenter in this poem expresses the poem in the manner of someone who has had enough of the dominance of males in her workplace. 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 dominance (Christopher, Lehmann-Haupt, N.p.). The poem can be assumed and described in a way that a woman is unfolding how she has been harassed and manipulated by their male coworkers for the past few years in their workplace. The poem is in a way a grievance of an 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 is disgusted with this racist behaviour, but she has a firm belief that even going to some other workplace won’t assure her that she will never have to face this type of inhumane behaviour again. All the women who had unfriendly and nasty experiences in their 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)
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