Literature
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Beauty and Societal Perception
Marge Piercy and Maya Angelou are of perceptions that the outer beauty does not make a woman beautiful but rather the inner beauty. Piercy is of the idea that the beauty of a woman lies in her physical appearance to seem attractive in the eyes of the judgmental society as well as the desire to live up on to the standards of others rather than an individual’s ideals. Piercy is of a perception that ‘Barbie Doll’ and is a mock of the individual’s social appearance and acceptance. Barbie’s poem attacks the women’s desire to look different so that they can fit in well with the people within their surroundings. Throughout her poem, Piercy uses various literary devices such as metaphors and imagery to provide concrete support to her opinion regarding society’s powerful impact on the individual’s perceptions and decisions.
In her bid to justify her perceptions, Piercy uses similes in her poem. For example, in stanza three she describes how the girl’s “good nature wore out/ like a fan belt” (16-17). The girl’s happiness gets buried beneath the self-hatred to which arises from the negative and the painful judgements that result from the mouth of the individuals in the society. With the society being so judgmental on her, the girl is unable to keep the pressure any longer, and this implies that the perception of beauty basing it on the society’s opinion does not have any weight on her anymore. Therefore, the girl decides to do away with making the outside world happy through her outer beauty but maintain her hidden beauty of the soul.
Piercy also uses imagery to justify her claims in the poem regarding the perception of the inner beauty. In the second stanza, Piercy uses imagery describing the girl as an average child and to who possesses lovely essential qualities and as well a good heart. The repetition of the line “a fat nose on thick legs” builds the broader picture of arrogance that is portrayed by the society in describing the girl. Imagery has also been used to portray the girl as a young child, One such good example, “and presented dolls that did pee-pee/ and miniature GE stoves and irons/ and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.” (Lines 2 and 3). The use of the above lines depicts the girl as being a young child who is reckless and have the qualities of a child. Besides, Barbie uses imagery to portray the girl’s experiences, and this can be seen in the lines 17 to 25 where the author compares Barbie Doll to the young girl. In the end, the girl pays the final price and to which Piercy depicts via use of imagery to unveil this. “Doesn’t she look pretty? everyone said/Consummation at last /To every woman a happy ending.” (23 to 25). Here the author shows that the society finally accepts the girl as she has been made over, despite it not being truly herself.
Euphemism has also been used in the poem, ‘So she cut off her nose and her legs and offered them up.’ In line 18. The girl cuts off her nose and legs and attempts to give them up, and she does this so that she is able to get rid of the society’s expectations to which she could not meet. Through the use of euphemism, the audience is made aware of the negative perception of the author in relation to the outer beauty among the women. Here she makes it clear that the outer beauty does not matter and as well the society’s perception on an individual can be detrimental and is capable of causing harm to a person.
Piercy has also used irony in her poem criticizing the perception of the society on a person’s outward appearances. In line 25, the author uses line 25, “To every woman a happy ending”. Here Piercy refers to the death as a happy ending, but on the contrary, it is not a happy ending as she dies at the end. Piercy uses the element of irony to justify further and intensify his perception and as well to the theme of the poem concerning judgements and expectations from the society. The author states that after death, the girl is able to separate herself from the judgmental society as well as their expectations and this is depicted as being her happy ending. When the judgement stops and the expectations from the society are put to an end, the girl is finally regarded as beautiful, and this implies that the outward appearances do not matter rather one should be focused on the inner beauty.
Maya Angelou can be seen to have the same perceptions to that of Marge Piercy that the outer beauty does not make a woman beautiful and thus the society’s judgments and expectations do not matter or affect at any point in the realization of internal beauty. Maya advocates for confidence and at the same time convey to the audience that the looks of a woman can’t let anybody bring them down if they carry themselves in a manner that portrays pride in themselves. A woman is genuinely phenomenal if she is prepared to overcome the society’s expectations and judgements and instill happiness within themselves. To justify her perception that the outer beauty does not matter, Maya uses various poetic devices and technique.
Imagery is one of the techniques used by Maya to support her claim. She skillfully uses imagery to develop a mental picture of a female who is considered as being self-confident, self-loving and as well, being a proud woman. For example, Maya in the first stanza in line 2 Maya states that “I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size”. From the line, the woman is proud of being whom she is and does not need the appreciation of the other people to be proud of herself. Besides, the author uses other lines in the poem to create an image of the phenomenal woman. Some of these lines include, ‘The curl of my lips, the ride of my breasts, the swing of my waist as well as the stride of my steps’. Through the use of imagery, the author has been able to describe the whole body of the woman from the head to feet as well as her behavioral patterns to which contribute to her being a phenomenal woman.
Maya uses irony as well to justify her claims that the inner beauty is more significant than the outer appearance. Through the use of irony, the author is able to represent her thoughts about beauty and the perceptions of society. The author of the poem is an African-American woman and has past experiences on racial discrimination, oppression and rape in the American soil. According to the American society, the standard of beauty is based on the grounds of the possession of fair skin color, blue eyes as well as sharp features. In contrast, African American women don’t conform to the standards of beauty assumed by the American society and Maya is convinced that the inner beauty is, in fact, the true beauty of a woman. A phenomenal woman feels confident in her huge physique and a shapely body, and that she discovers joy in her womanhood. Some of the lines in the poem indicate that she is proud of her body and does not need the society’s judgement to make her proud. Some of the lines include, ‘I’m a woman phenomenally, the strides of my breasts and the flash of my teeth’. These comments by the author make the audience able to realize the irony from the society’s expectation and the qualities of the African American women.
Besides irony and imagery, the author uses refrain in the first three stanzas of the poem found in the last four lines. “I am a woman, phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that’s me.” A repetition is also found in the last stanza but with an addition of cause’, “Cause, I am a woman, phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that’s me.” The author repeats these lines to make the emphasis and make a self-assurance mantra that the inner beauty is more worthy than the outer beauty and this aids the audience to associate the repetition with the phenomenal woman. The author also uses a tone of a strong and confident woman who is not bothered by what the society think and talk about her as she finds happiness in her womanhood. The tone can be found in the first three stanzas where she says she is not embarrassed by her physical appearance.
Piercy and Maya have used various techniques of poetry that include symbolism, irony, and imagery and refrain as well from supporting their perceptions that the beauty of a woman is based on the inner beauty and not the outer beauty. Both poets are against the societal expectations and judgement of women claiming that their judgement is not right about the beauty of a woman. A phenomenal woman is proud of her womanhood and does not expect any judgments from the society to make her proud. Based on the evidence provided by the two poets, it’s, therefore, true that the beauty of a woman is based on her inner beauty and not the outer and judgmental appearance of a woman.
Work Cited
Angelou, Maya. Phenomenal woman: Four poems celebrating women. Random House Incorporated, 1994.
Piercy, Marge. Barbie Doll. Red Mountain Tribe, Incorporated, 1971.
