Memories of My Girlhood ; From the title I derived many ideas about what  the narrative suggests, Often times a sentimental value is applied to a item or event from the author's childhood. In this case the object is a Barbie doll. I felt it was very interesting that bell hooks compares and contrasts a Barbie doll (which by the American standard is the "perfect" woman). She compares her personality and the ignorance of childhood to the perfect  life of a Barbie doll "Barbie is anything but real" (hooks 1). Under an eye of even more scrutiny, she imagines a life that does not include any chores or housework which suggests she [hooks] was raised in the values of the older conservative generation or that she was alluding to her race's position in history (assuming she is African-American). Perhaps the "thesis" or lesson from the entire narrative was "Only grown-ups think that the things children say come out of nowhere. We know that they come from the deepest parts of ourselves" (hooks 1). The intrinsic focus of the article is to examine the youth's understanding of racism (and any contemporary social issues) . bell hooks manages to bridge a gap between two social issues through a childhood story . The fact that a story about a simple Barbie doll and young girl can open a new view to the ideas of racial equality and feminism. I felt it was a new and more eye opening experience to issues that ,as a nation, we avoid for fear of offending each other.