Essay - The Collar and Barbie Doll Observed that Both George Herbert's...

The Collar and Barbie Doll observed that both George Herbert's poem "The Collar" and Marge Piercy's poem "Barbie Doll" essentially offer critiques regarding certain valued social ideals of modern Western society. Herbert's poem critiques certain aspects of Christianity, the West's predominant religion, and Piercy's poem criticizes ***** society's views and expectations regarding its women.

I thought that ***** poem was about one individual's struggle towards fulfilling the many duties ***** expectations required of him as a devout Christi*****n. I felt that the speaker kept voicing his frustration towards ***** ********** seemingly endless demands. T***** is apparent from the poem's first line when he decries, "I struck the board, and cry'd, No more." It seemed as though he considered himself to be like a slave whose hard work is never acknowledged by his master.

***** I ********** that ***** poem ***** about ***** individual's struggle ***** living up ***** society's high ideals, as embodied by *****, ***** womanhood. I *****d that Piercy symbolically described how young girls are conditioned early on to embody society's ideals by being "presented dolls ***** did pee-pee" as well as "wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy." ***** poem used heart wrenching language to describe *****e young girl's constant attempts at and eventual frustration *****wards living up to society's *****. T***** can be seen when after being "advised to play coy... exercise, diet, smile and wheedle" the ***** "good nature wore out like a f*****n belt."

Towards the end of Herbert's poem ***** speaker experiences a revelation, which occurs when the ***** feels that God has spoken to him. Once he realizes ***** God loves him enough ***** consider him as His "child" then the speaker no longer feels any resentment towards his Master. He thus becomes ***** morally conscious ***** continuing to fulfill his Christian duties. Piercy's poem ends with the girl's eventual suicide and funeral, which leads to ***** s*****ry's sad irony that even though the girl hoped to escape society's ideals regarding womanhood through death, it is only after she died that society came to view her as its ideal woman. Thus no sense of ***** justice was accompl*****hed through ***** girl's death because no one realized that society's ***** and expectations ***** ***** were impossible *****