Dying for Perfection

In Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy, the speaker satirizes the pursuit to become perfect and gain social acceptance. The title Barbie Doll highlights the girlchild's desire to become a barbie doll. She was healthy and intelligent. She had strong arms and back, an abundant sex drive, and manual dexterity. She had great traits for a woman, yet her nose and legs were a problem: "Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs" (Piercy, 835). She focused on that sole thought and it ruined her life. She changed herself and figuratively died. She killed her old, true self to be accepted by the people around her. The most ironic thing is that puberty was not done yet. Puberty created her nose and leg problems and puberty was going to change the rest of her body later. Her desire to be socially accepted destroyed her original and unique self.