[mohammad_4909]

1- Explain what is meant by “ in the magic of puberty” in “ Barbie Doll”.
The “magic of puberty” introduces the theme of growth. It is a magical time because the body changes rapidly. Girls begin to menstruate and their bodies change. Piercy uses the term ironically here, as she is also referring to the pain that comes with puberty. Adolescents become more aware of one another as sexual and social beings and are frequently cruel towards one another. The “girlchild” is told she has “a great big nose and fat legs” even though she is smart, healthy and strong. The latter deors, however, are seen as being positive only for males, not females. Being good with one’s hands (manual dexterity) is a conventional male trait. Similarly, while having an “abundant sexual drive” for boys might be seen as “sowing oats” or being a “real” man, for girls it is often considered aggressive or the mark of a “whore.”

2- What did the classmate say to the girl in “ Barbie Doll”?
She has “a great big nose and fat legs”. This rude classmate symbolizes society and its focus on physical beauty.
3- Why did she undergo plastic surgery?
She underwent the plastic surgery in order to satisfy her society to be the model feminine. So she cut off her nose and thick leg. Even though she did that, she was still had big nose and fat leg. The expectations society has for the female are obvious. The speaker reveals that society advises the girl to "play coy". In other words, the girl should be shy, quiet, and timid. The girl was encouraged to "exercise, diet, smile and wheedle". In other words, society encourages the girl to be in great shape, smile all the time, and charm people. One can see that the girl in the poem is expected to be like a Barbie doll. After all, Barbie has an amazingly thin body. In addition, Barbie always has a smile on her face and charms America by being a highly valuable collector’s item. Finally, we see how the girl in the poem can no longer tolerate society’s pressure to be like Barbie, the ideal woman. By comparing the girl’s discouragement to a fan belt, Piercy shows how the girl's despair is compared to an object. "Fan belts wear out because of overuse. Fan belts are also commodities—things—like Barbie dolls themselves and, Piercy suggests, like women".
The Barbie doll symbolizes the way society expects a young lady to be. The irony begins to be revealed when the author reveals that the girl’s "good nature [is wearing] out".

4- What qualities did the girl possess and why did the poet mention them?
The girl appears to be strong, intelligent, and possesses the qualities of most young adults at her age, such as a sex drive and dexterity. Even though she possesses these great qualities, she is still seen only as “a fat nose on thick legs”.. She is not referred to as a girl, she is only classified by her physical features. This represents how society tends to objectify women, and see them as only as a physical thing. It is also ironic that she apologizes for being the way she is, when she has done nothing wrong. It is everyone who should be apologizing for being shallow and narrow-minded.
5- Comment on the line in the final Stanza: “Doesn’t she look pretty? Everyone said? And when was this said?
It is ironic that society, symbolized by "everyone" in the poem, says she is pretty. Even though she is dead, society finally views her as pretty because she now has an acceptable nose, even though it is made of putty. She is also accepted because she is wearing make-up and a nightie in the colors that represent purity and femininity, pink and white. In line twenty-four, it is obvious that only in the girl’s death does society view her as perfect.
6- How does the poem end? Comment on the final line:” to every woman a happy ending”. How does the ending reinforce the poem’s message?
The final line of the tragic fairly tale-like poem implies that the ending is a happy one. However, the irony is that the ending is sad and shocking. The "happy ending" is ironic because it is not happy at all. Because the ending is described as happy, one can see how "every woman" could view the girl’s death as a happy ending because the female in the poem is no longer alive to challenge a woman’s place in society. Since the unique girl with an ugly nose and fat legs is dead, it is a happy ending for women in society because she was an outcast who represented what society considered to be abnormal. With the use of symbolism and irony, Piercy conveys a message about society's unrealistic expectations for women. By taking readers through a fairytale-like story that ends in tragedy, Piercy shows us that some women do not take these social pressures lightly. It greatly affects women, whether we realize it or not. Piercy realizes that many young girls look up to Barbie as a role model, and they aspire to be like her. That is why she wrote this poem. She wanted to point out that being like a Barbie doll may not be such a good thing after all. Ironically, her death is described as a happy ending, even though it was a shocking and tragic death, but it seems like a happy ending because she is finally being accepted by her peers.


7- What is the picture that the final stanza in “ Dover Beach” draw of our world? In other words, how authentic is that image of our modern world?

In this poem. One can see clearly the real world, in which people lose their goals and their trust and cannot find peace and conviction. Thus, one of the two worlds in all of his poems is disappointing. This is a reflection on the unstable age in which he lived. Arnold had little hope for the real world, and hoped instead for another world, an imaginary, heavenly world.
In 'Dover Beach' hope manifests itself as love. This poem was written in 1851, when Arnold married and his heart was full of hope - 'Ah, love, let us be true/To one another' is the positive affirmation of the poem, the firm ground of trust which the poet stands on in this 'darkling plain' of the world. There dream of a better world is seen in the relationship Arnold seeks with the woman he loved. However, his anxiety about the real world causes him to seek for a more stable, more ideal world. At the same time, as portraying the uncertainties of life with honesty and directness, he also expresses hope, and his words revolve around the moment when a better world is created through love.

8- Comment fully on these lines:
And we are here as on a darkling plain………………….clash by night
The last three lines of Arnold's poem "Dover Beach", express the author's bewilderment at the state of the world, which, instead of being filled with "joy...love...and light", is more like a battleground, where confusion and destruction reign. It is the author's hope that the love he shares with the woman to whom the poem is addressed will transcend a reality where comfort and peace are lacking.
I think that in his poem "Dover Beach", Hecht is both making fun of Arnold's pessimistic belief and affirming it as well. His cross portrayal of the object of Arnold's affections as a woman who is, unknown to him, vulgar and unfaithful, is told with an earthy realism which makes Arnold's flowery, romantic notions seem ludicrous. Ironically, the effect of this portrayal affirms Arnold's pessimistic fears at the same time as it mocks them. The world is indeed not a place where high-mindedness and noble ideals prevail, and Arnold's hope for refuge in an untainted love is empty and meaningless as well.
9- Why couldn’t the dead be buried in “Leningrad Cemetery”? Give three Reasons.

The "dead could not be buried" because the "ground was frozen, "and even the "gravediggers" closer to death than they should've been, being "weak from hunger." Olds immediately plunges the reader into a desolate world, where even the "dead" cannot be properly laid to rest. Hunger prevails, and "coffin wood is used for fuel.

10- Why does the hand stretch out?
The "hand" reaches for life, wanting vitality and life so desperately, that it is willing to come alive again, even in the dismal "winter of 1941.
12/Why does the mother in Marks decide to drop up at the end?
In the poem "Marks" the speaker is using a school phor to vent her frustration at being constantly evaluated by her family. "Marks" means grades, and each family member has his or her own system of grading the mother: the husband uses letter grades, giving his wife an "A / for last night's supper." She gets and "I"--incomplete--for ironing, because no doubt she didn't finish and probably left some of his clothes unironed. All of the grades are good grades, except for the ironing, but then an incomplete can be converted to an "A" as soon as the work is finished. The son is less discriminating than the husband; he just claims his mom is average, but he also thinks she has potential to become above average "if / [she puts her] mind to it." The daughter uses the pass/fail system, and the good news is the mother passes.
what does the mother mean by saying she's dropping out? Does she mean she's leaving the household, divorcing the husband, abandoning the children? Does she mean she's going to commit suicide? I suggest that these measures are too drastic. The situation is not that ominous. After all, her "marks" are really good ones: A, B+, I (which can be replaced with an A); average, with the potential to be above average; and pass. The family is not negatively marking her. Why would she be motivated to abandon the family or commit suicide for getting such good marks? I suggest that her "dropping out" is a mild exaggeration and probably indicates that she is no longer going to care if they evaluate her. She's dropping out of the school phor; she will no longer consider herself open to evaluation. The poem is too playful to allow for the dire interpretation of family abandonment and suicide. The school phor makes it playful. In order to hint at abandonment or suicide I would argue that a speaker might use a legal phor, claim that she had been judged wrongly, imply that she was committed to prison unjustly; then the speaker might imply family abandonment or suicide.


13/Why does the husband in the vacuum say that his life is so cheap as dirt?
he husband’s life also is now “cheap as dirt,” (Ln. 13). “Cheap as dirt” symbolizes how the husband feels without his wife; his life’s worth is comparable to dirt in her absence. phorically, the vacuum is the clean soul of the speaker’s wife. The vacuum is a person to him. The vacuum is his wife and his memory of her. His wife’s cleanliness and purity was the past, while in the present the speaker’s phor for his life is dirty and slovenly. Nemerov writes, “maybe at my/ Slovenly life, my dog-dead youth” (Ln. 4-5) to explain how the husband no longer can exert energy to clean and vacuum his house. The husband sees no reason to operate the vacuum to clean his house, because he sees no use for him to expend effort when his wife is not near him. The husband also utilizes phors in the deion that there is “old filth everywhere” in his house, because his wife is no longer there to clean. It is as if his life is cheap and useless as dirt without his wife. His “heart hangs on and howls; biting at air” (Ln.14-15). The vacuum used to howl when his wife was alive, but now the husband is the one who howls in his painful loneliness. The speaker’s house was once clean and filled with love, but now it is dirty and filled with loneliness.


14/Explain fully the line: Its bag limp as a stopped lung.
Nemerov writes, "Its bag limp as a stopped lung (3), to draw a comparison between the inactive vacuum bag and inactive lungs. Breathing lungs symbolize life. No longer does the vacuum, or the speaker's wife, breathe with life. This simile contributes to the vacuum's personification of his wife because the vacuum is a living, breathing entity to the husband.
20/ What does ly think of the sculptor who made Ozymandias’s statue?
The sculptor did a good job at expressing the ruler’s personality. The ruler was a wicked guy, but he took care of his people.