Barbie Doll

Piercy opens the poem with a character she refers to by a compound noun, “girlchild” (Line 1), telling us that for this character, the identity of being a girl is tied to that of being a child. The child is gendered from birth. She doesn’t give any further identification: only that she was born “as usual” (Line 1). She becomes an allegory for many girls and women. She is a usual, normal girl. In Line 2, the girlchild is “presented” with a list of toys. Piercy uses formal diction, writing “presented” rather than something like “given” in order to remove any sense of choice and to instill a tone of dictation for this ceremony.

The toys given foreshadow the expectations for the girlchild and what is to come. She is given “dolls that did pee-pee” (Line 2) to prepare her and to tell her to expect motherhood. She is given “miniature GE stoves and irons” (Line 3) in order to teach her to keep house. She is given “wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy” (Line 4) to instill the value of beauty, and, insidiously, is tricked in a way, given that the lipsticks are the color of something sweet like candy.