The Birthmark

Refer to and incorporate details from both the story and the poem over the course of the activity. Be ready to share your work or findings with peers, as well as an analysis of your process (such as how your ideas evolved, or what surprised you along the way).

1. Piercy wrote “Barbie Doll” in 1971—more than a century after Hawthorne published “The Birthmark” (1843), which is set “[i]n the latter part of the last century” (i.e., the late 1700s). The two works thus take place in very different time periods but share many of the same themes. For this activity, write a creative piece based on either “Barbie Doll” or “The Birthmark” but set in the approximate era of the other work (a 20th- or 21st-century “The Birthmark” or an 18th or 19th-century “Barbie Doll”). For example, a modern Aylmer might be a cosmetic surgeon, while for an 18th-century girl, “becoming a woman” might entail learning skills like embroidery. For an extra challenge, you can also swap genres (i.e., write a short story based on “Barbie Doll” or a poem based on “The Birthmark”).

2. “Barbie Doll” begins with a list of toys the girlchild plays with—dolls, replica ovens and irons, and miniature lipsticks—all of which reinforce some aspect of mid-20th-century Western gender norms.