Literary Analysis Essay

¶ … Anna Quindlen's "The Name is Mine," the author uses a personal anecdote to convey her experiences grappling with battling patriarchy. Marge Piercy presents a much more pessimistic view of female empowerment in "Barbie Doll," a poem in which the central subject is completely consumed by the catastrophic effects of a sexist society. Both these works of literature make powerful social commentary about the source and nature of sexism and patriarchy. However, Quindlen and Piercy use dramatically different literary strategies to achieve their respective, unitary goals. In "The Name is Mine," Quindlen uses the first person point-of-view and a straightforward narrative prose. In "Barbie Doll," Piercy uses a poem written in third person. In "The Name is Mine," Quindlen's tone is lively and upbeat, ultimately optimistic and encouraging. On the contrary, Piercy's tone in "Barbie Doll" is bitter, scathing, and righteously angry. Their tone and point-of-view might be different but both Quindlen in "The Name is Mine," and Piercy in "Barbie Doll" use rich imagery and figurative language to convey their perceptions of the detrimental effects of patriarchy.

Point-of-view is a strategy that both Anna Quindlen and Marge Piercy use in their respective works. In "The Name is Mine," Quindlen uses first person point-of-view. The reader is spoken to on a personal level, as if the author is right in the room. The first person point-of-view used in "The Name is Mine" therefore conveys a personal tone. The personal point-of-view asks readers to question their own experience related to the central theme of the narrative, which is the power of the name. In "The Name is Mine," Quindlen discusses her choice to keep her birth name rather than taking her husband's name as per tradition. For her, the name is "mine," meaning it is critical to her identity and integrity as a person. If she takes "his" name, she is erasing her personal identity to be "someone's wife." Therefore, point-of-view is critical to "The Name of Mine," which is why the first person is used in the title of the narrative. In "Barbie Doll," on the other hand, the poet uses third person. Third person still maintains a connection between the poet, the imagery in the poem, and the reader. For example, "This girlchild was born as usual," is the first line. The phrase "as usual" suggests that all female readers can relate to the story. Thus, both first person and third person points-of-view are effective in conveying the themes.

In addition to point-of-view, tone is a literary strategy used by both Quindlen and Piercy to convey the feminist theme. In "The Name is Mine," Quindlen remains positive and optimistic that women have come a long way to overcome patriarchy. The fact that she and other women have kept their birth names is proof of the long way women have come. Moreover, Quindlen understands that marriage and parenting are not necessarily patriarchal structures. She understands that women can retain their identities within these structures. The name is a symbol of that personal identity, "a simple statement that I was somebody and not an adjunct of anybody, especially a husband," (section 2). The tone in Marge Piercy's "Barbie Doll" is more pessimistic because the poem finishes with imagery that is grim and morbid. "So she cut off her nose and legs / and offered them up. / In the casket displayed on satin she lay," (p. 387). The "happy ending" that Piercy refers to in the last line is sarcastic, and it also symbolizes the underground sex trade in which women give massages the have "happy endings" for their male patrons. In "Barbie Doll," the central character is a female born with ample potential because she is "healthy," "intelligent," "strong," and has "abundant sex drive." However, she is not deemed physically attractive enough by the dominant culture and so is shunned into submission and eventually, death.