# 7
Naturally, this poem struck a chord for me. Piercy's theme falls along the line of society's view of beauty being absolutely warped! Here, a girl is content with herself growing up, offered the "dolls,... and miniature GE stoves and irons and wee lipsticks" presented to young girls. Society steers kids as either girlish and pink or boyish and blue. Consequently, the control society possesses on the minds of young girls is frightening. The girl in the poem is described as "intelligent" and "healthy," but that mattered little to those looking in; peers constantly judging and reshaping the person she was into the "perfect image."
Like a Barbie doll, the subject becomes plastic-like. Fake. As the poem is an overstatement, the girl didn't literally cut off her nose and legs, but it can be inferred that there was plastic surgery involved or an altering of the outward appearance. The casket reference symbolizes the dying of her inside and all she'd developed into being replaced with someone almost dead. No life can be justified from a person who has to change in order to be accepted into his/her surroundings. The upsetting part is girls and boys every where from childhood to teenage years are working to conform to the "perfect, plastic" image society wishes to see. However, my dad's always told me that it takes all people to make the world go 'round! We can't all be perfect; society would be quite boring if this were the case.
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