17 October 2014Connotations And DenotationsUpon Reading
17 October 2014
Connotations and Denotations
Upon reading the title “Barbie Doll” it can be inferred that the poem will be about society’s standards of females, perfection, or about a children’s toy. Line one emphasizes the word “girlchild”, in the time period this poem is written it was acceptable for little boys and little girls to play with dolls. Line five uses ironic word choice, “in the magic of puberty”, as if puberty is something good that will make life better. Instead the puberty made the girlchild’s life miserable. Piercy describes the girlchild as “healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back, abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity”. Absolutely nothing is wrong with her, except she does not meet society’s standards of beauty. Barbie is the ideal representation of the beauty expectations of women. Due to her treatment for not being as she is expected to be, she felt compelled to apologize. She was given advise on how to change and be more like a Barbie. Lines fifteen and sixteen indicate her “good nature wore out like a fan belt”, choosing a fan belt to represent her good nature is a key component to the following lines. A fan belt cannot be fixed, only replaced and when it wears out it snaps suddenly. She offered her nose and legs to society out of desperation to meet the standards of beauty and it resulted in her death. She lies in a satin casket, the material used to make Barbie’s clothing. The undertaker painted cosmetics onto her face and gave her a turned-up putty nose, like the dolls. The pink and white nightie is something the doll would wear; being as pink was the main color for her clothing. Everyone finally thought she looked pretty. The girlchild gave her life to meet society’s standards and become a human Barbie doll.
Fire and ice, complete opposites. When put together, they destroy each other for they are destructive forces. Frost is debating whether he would rather perish from freezing to death or burning to death. He
Connotations and Denotations
Upon reading the title “Barbie Doll” it can be inferred that the poem will be about society’s standards of females, perfection, or about a children’s toy. Line one emphasizes the word “girlchild”, in the time period this poem is written it was acceptable for little boys and little girls to play with dolls. Line five uses ironic word choice, “in the magic of puberty”, as if puberty is something good that will make life better. Instead the puberty made the girlchild’s life miserable. Piercy describes the girlchild as “healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back, abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity”. Absolutely nothing is wrong with her, except she does not meet society’s standards of beauty. Barbie is the ideal representation of the beauty expectations of women. Due to her treatment for not being as she is expected to be, she felt compelled to apologize. She was given advise on how to change and be more like a Barbie. Lines fifteen and sixteen indicate her “good nature wore out like a fan belt”, choosing a fan belt to represent her good nature is a key component to the following lines. A fan belt cannot be fixed, only replaced and when it wears out it snaps suddenly. She offered her nose and legs to society out of desperation to meet the standards of beauty and it resulted in her death. She lies in a satin casket, the material used to make Barbie’s clothing. The undertaker painted cosmetics onto her face and gave her a turned-up putty nose, like the dolls. The pink and white nightie is something the doll would wear; being as pink was the main color for her clothing. Everyone finally thought she looked pretty. The girlchild gave her life to meet society’s standards and become a human Barbie doll.
Fire and ice, complete opposites. When put together, they destroy each other for they are destructive forces. Frost is debating whether he would rather perish from freezing to death or burning to death. He