In "Barbie Doll," what does it mean by "she cut off her nose and her legs"? Is it plastic surgery, and is that the cause of her death? If not, then...

The poem "Barbie Doll" by Marge Piercy is less about
physical death and more about the death of what the real ideal of women should
be.

The girlchild represents you and I: Typical, ordinary,
and everyday women who have great qualities and normal weaknesses. The girlchild is born
with qualities that are ordinarily considered good. However, in the type of setting
where this poem develops, it is understood that women are not meant to be strong,
skilled, nor intelligent: They are supposed to look good, act cute, and be seen but not
heard.

The girlchild in this poem does not understand why
she has to give up what she considers to be the qualities that make her unique in favor
of changing them for a plastic and superficial society. She cannot fathom what could be
wrong with her, but she is consistently told that everything is
wrong.

Hence, the moment when she "gives up her nose and
her legs", does not refer to an actual and literal cut of her body parts. It is symbolic
of how she had to relinquish the pride she felt for her uniqueness, and how she allowed
herself to believe that her big nose and her thick legs were not good enough. It means
that she now believes that there is something wrong with her. Or, perhaps, that she
changed her nose and her looks in order to be considered "OK" by everyone
else.

Her funeral is symbolic of the death of her real
self. The real woman is gone and, in her place, society has given her what it feels she
lacks. Now she is exactly as they expect but, in her own flesh, she is
dead.