Oh, the Irony.

Marge Piercy uses situational and dramatic irony in "Barbie Doll" to convey to the reader the tragic story of a girl who did everything in her power to conform into what others wanted her to be. The poem starts out with the "girlchild" growing up in the perceived "usual" way that a young girl would; playing with dolls and fake stoves and lipstick. Marge's repetitive use of synonyms of the word "small" in the first stanza is ironic-- "...miniature GE stoves and irons and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy"-- because as the girl grows older she is seen as "a fat nose on thick legs," (Piercy). From the beginning of the young girl's life, she was programmed with the need to be "wee" and petite. As a reader, I wanted to somehow telepathically let her know that she did not have to change herself or feel bad about herself to please those around her. Thus dramatic irony, "when an event occurs whose significance the audience understands but the characters do not," (the oatmeal.com/comics/irony).  As a result of the pressures to become thin and "exercise, diet, smile and wheedle," (Piercy), she "cut off her nose and her legs and offered them up," (Piercy). The last stanza was the hardest for me to read. After going though with the surgery in order to blend in, the girl still was not happy with herself. Her society-- please forgive me, I just used the commonly used word society -- set women's standards so high that no woman could live up to them. It is still unclear to me whether or not the girl took her own life or died because of the surgery, but either way it's an example of situational irony, "Situational irony is when something happens and a reversal of expectations occurs...the reversal: the armor, which was intended for protection, is what ended up causing harm," (theoatmeal.com/comics/irony). In other words, the girl's surgery was intended to boost her confidence, to live up to her society's standards, and essentially be a perfect girl.

Instead, it ended up costing the girl her life. And, get this; the same people whom she could never seem to please were only appreciative of her as she lay in her coffin, "Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said," (Piercy). That only angers me even more. They had the audacity to show up to her funeral and only then did they call her pretty. It's saddening to think that the girl is looking down from Heaven, or some form of afterlife, finally pleased with herself.