"Barbie's Shoes"

Hilary Tham

Tham was born in Kelang, Malaysia, and currently lives in Virginia with her husband and three daughters. She teaches creative writing in high schools and has published several books of poetry, including No Gods Today, Paper Boats, Bad Names for Women, and Tigerbone Wine.

I'm down in the basement

sorting Barbie's shoes.

sequin pumps, satin courts,

western boots, Reebok sneakers,

glass slippers, ice-scates, thongs.

All will fit the dainty, forever arched

feet of any one Barbie: Sweet Spring

Glitter-eyed, Peaches and Cream,

Brazilian, Russian, Swiss, Hong Kong

Hispanic, or a Mexican, Nigerian

or a Black Barbie. All are cast

in the same mold, same rubbery,

impossible embodiment of male fantasy

with carefully measured

doses of melanin to make

a Caucasian Barbie,

Polynesian Barbie

African-American Barbie.

Everyone knows that she is the same

Barbie and worthy of the American Dream

House, the Corvette, opera gloves, a

hundred pairs of shoes to step into. If only

the differently colored men and women we know

could be like Barbie, always smiling, eyes

wide with admiration, even when we yank

off an arm with a hard-to-take-off dress.

Barbie's shoes, so easily lost, mismatched,

useless; they end up, like our prejudices

in the basement, forgotten as spiders

sticking webs in our darkest corners,

we are amazed we have them still.

Preparing to Read: Most works we will look at begin with a headnote that introduces the piece and author. Read the headnote of the poem. What doe you think is significant about the fact that Tham is originally from Malaysia and now lives in the United States? As a mother of three girls and as a high school teacher, how do you think those factors influence her thoughts about Barbie?

Reading and Annotating: As you read the poem, use a pencil or pen to Mark key words or and phrases in the text and write questions and responses in the margins.

Re-reading: Reread the poem and your annotations and summarize what you think Tham is trying to say in the poem.

Reviewing: Use your summary to draw your own conclusions, ask questions, and formulate your own responses to Tham's ideas. For example:

1. Tham suggests that Barbie's shoes are like prejudices (forgotten, seemingly lost, down in the basement, "useless" and "mismatched"); why can't ew just

throw them out? Why are they still in the basement?

2. Why does Barbie have so many shoes? Perhaps Tham is implying that we have an equal number of seemingly insignificant prejudices, one for every

occasion, even.

3. Tham points out that there are many different kinds of Barbie dolls (Caucasian, Polynesian, African American) but all are "worthy of the American

Dream / House." In this sense Barbies are all the same. So does Barbie influence us to overlook the real differences in women's lives? We're not dolls,

after all, and although we're all worthy of success and accomplishment, we don't all get the same chances.

4. Tham describes Barbie as the "impossible embodiment of male fantasy." How is this observation related to the rest of the poem? Could she be saying that this fantasy is related to prejudice?

Assignment: Read Marilyn Ferris Moltz's essay, "'Seen Through Rose-Tinted Glasses': The Barbie Doll in American Society." In a paragraph or two, summarize in paragraph form the key points of Moltz's argument. Using your summary, write a paragraph in which you agree or disagree with Moltz and give sound reasoning for your stance.