Barbie Doll

Piercy’s vivid use of simile not only in “Barbie Doll” but throughout her body of work serves to surprise the reader. In Line 16, when the character’s good nature wears out “like a fan belt,” the comparison to an automotive part is unusual, particularly in the sense that mechanical terms are uncommon when used to describe women in literature. This simile becomes a statement of multiple meanings: a further addition to the criticisms of objectification within the poem, a norm-breaking description of a woman as something sturdy as opposed to something small and fragile, and as a graphic illustration of how the girl feels, which helps the reader connect with her. The poet has done something similar in “What Are Big Girls Made Of?” by comparing a woman’s body to that of a sports sedan.

The poet uses formal diction throughout “Barbie Doll,” with word choices which set a sense of inescapability, as if all that happens within the poem is prescribed. In the very first line, the character is introduced as a “girlchild,” a compound noun which paints the very identity of the character as a girl from infancy. In Line 2, the word “presented” is used instead of something along the lines of “given” to tell the reader that the toys given to the girlchild are compulsory.