"To every woman a happy ending" (Piercy, 836).
The irony of the last line of the poem conveys the speaker's attitude about a woman's role in society. Her criticisms of society's demands of women are strong. She presents these through the use of a "girl child" who is growing up. As she grows, she is healthy, smart, and kind. Yet, all society and the people around her can see are "a fat nose on thick legs." Society forced her to conform to the image of an ideal woman which eventually strips away at her mentality. The speaker of the poem shows that she had more positive qualities than the two negative. Still, her negative aspects were all people could see which therefore became all the girl could see. In the end, the girl offers up her good qualities ("good nature") in order to rid of her bad qualities. Though the speaker suggests a happy ending for all, the irony is that no one is technically happier. The girl has diminished her sense of self, and the world is worse off not having the kind, smart girl that was originally described.
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