The means chosen by the author contribute to the bitter irony of the subject. Like in the first poem, death is shown as relief from sufferings, and as a way to put an end to the life that so largely depended on recognition and appraisal of others. The girl who was strong and intelligent gets ruined when she sees her ostensible defects. The major theme of the poem is how the life of a person can be destroyed by the accidental loss of self-confidence. “did pee-pee”) are contrasted with the gravity of the outcome. This formal style enhances the irony: the poet stays detached from the lyrical heroine as if telling her story as a medical case study. Repetition can be identified on the morphological level as well (past participle form is used multiple times: “tested”, “possessed”, “advised”, “presented”, “offered”, etc.). “And” is repeated several times, which suggests the imitation of a child’s speech. The author uses repetitions as the main device. Punctuation and capitalization are often omitted, which is typical of the genre (Mays 121). The rhythm is created by repetitive iambs and anapests. However, there is internal assonance and alliteration.
She is presented with “dolls that did pee-pee” (2), "miniature GE stoves and irons," as well as "wee lipsticks" (3-4).The poem consists of 25 lines and does not have any regular end rhyme or solid rhythmic structure. It sets the tone with a happy beginning and a positive attitude. The opening stanza describes how according to society any “girl-child” spends her childhood. Each of the four stanzas shows the different stages of the girl’s life, and how the influence of peer pressure and stereotypes destroy her. The poem is written in an open form much like a Barbie storybook or movie, by using similes, symbols, and a fairy tale-like tone, Piercy creates a story starring a suicidal young girl instead of a Barbie, the glamorous sex symbol the girl is compared to throughout the poem. However, the speaker is not aware of her feelings about what is happening. The speaker is aware of the events taking place in the young girl’s life, just maybe somebody who knows her or a person observing her from the sidelines. Throughout the poem, the girl is presented as a passive figure that is continually put down by a society obsessed with set standards of perfection. The societies within America usually describe someone as beautiful if they are thin and have the perfect body, such as a Barbie Doll. her poems contain visions of a woman’s struggle to take responsibility for her own life." By comparing the young lady in the poem to a Barbie doll, the author reveals the irony of the title. According to Steven Ratiner, author of Giving Their World: Conversations with Contemporary Poets, it is Piercy’s realistic interpretations of life experience which develops the theme of her poetry: ".
The title accentuates the theme of the poem the Doll symbolizes society’s interpretation of beauty and a reflection of how the girl’s ideas of this beauty shape her self-worth. The poem “Barbie Doll’ by Marge Piercy dramatizes the conflict between stereotyping and perfection within society.