Dying to be Beautiful

“You are so insensitive!” Until now, I can’t forget this line from my friend who sobbed for hours after she was told: “You got fat.” She is just one of the women who sob because of criticisms. However, in the poem “Barbie Doll,” Barbie did not cry but “cut off her nose and her legs.” The poem depicts how society sets a stringent standard of beauty and how this standard damages people.
First stanza gives a background about Barbie who “was born as usual.” Lines two to four illustrate that she was presented with dolls, GE stoves and irons, and lipsticks. All of these things unintentionally created in her stereotypical ideas of what she should be. The dolls created an impression of how she should look like; the stoves and irons, that she should be good at household chores; and the lipsticks, that she should always be beautiful. Thus, society first presents people the standard.
The next thing the society does is to comment (or destructively criticize) on anyone who cannot meet the standard. To Barbie the society was even harsher; I mean, the people expected her to be a testimony to her name—Barbie who symbolizes society’s stringent standard of beauty. (Pressure, I believe, is the word.) As Barbie grew up, apparently, she was perfect; it seemed everything went on smoothly. “She was healthy, tested intelligent, / possessed strong arms and back, / abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.” Yet there was something about her that did not meet society’s standard of beauty—her nose and legs. “…A classmate said: / You have a great big nose and fat legs.” “Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.” The comments made Barbie felt real bad that “She went to and fro apologizing.” In other words, Barbie lost her confidence. This is the result of society’s destructive criticism.
Following society’s comments are demands. Because of listening to these comments, Barbie had somehow lost her identity; she didn’t know who she really was. And since she was already lost, she had no choice but listening to the demands. “She was advised to play coy, / exhorted to come on hearty, / exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.” With her best, Barbie tried to follow all those advices but “Her good nature wore out / like a fan belt.” On the process she was deeply and severely hurt, “So she cut off her nose and her legs.” She had had enough. Because she could no longer stand the situation, Barbie took her own life. And worse, it was only when she died that she got the approval: “Doesn’t she look pretty? Everyone said.” Isn’t it ironic? All her life, Barbie tried but what good is that approval now when she’s dead? Such tragedy—suicide—is the ultimate consequence of trying to meet the demands of the society.
Using satire and irony, the poem has ridiculed society’s foolishness. Step by step, it has exposed how society sets and executes a stringent standard of beauty on people. Eventually, people find themselves destroyed. All right, I can’t blame people for dying to be beautiful—who doesn’t? But let me say this: It’s better to be mocked ugly yet alive than to be adored beautiful yet dead.