Barbie Doll

What a sad poem. After reading this and Emily Dickinson's poem "Madness is divinest Sense," I feel like I can make a connection between the two. In "Barbie Doll," the character starts out as a girl who loves herself for what she is. She loves life and is a happy person. Then in high school, she is criticized for what she looks like, "a fat nose on thick legs" (11). The character takes this to heart and does what everyone tells her and thinks she should do. She completely changes herself and ultimately dies inside. This "sense is madness" (Madness is divinest Sense). Instead of standing up for herself and being her own person, she came to sense and conformed. Both poems teach us a lesson about being happy for what and who God made you.