In the first stanza the reader realizes that Sylvia Plath is scared of her father. It is quite clear that she never spoke up to him to defend herself. In the first line it is apparent that something is ending. "You do not do, you do not do any more, black shoe," this shows that she feels that her father cannot hurt her anymore. Also, she knows that she has to let him know how she feels. "In which I have lived like a foot for thirty years, poor and white, barely daring to breathe or achoo," this expresses her fear of her father, and illustrates the fact that she has remained silent, unable to speak up or even breath any words against him. "Daddy, I have had to kill you. You died before I had time--," this portrays the extent of her hatred toward him. That she was so appall

It is apparent that Sylvia wishes to introduce her readers to what life would have been like for the women and children within Nazi Germany. The upbringing and treatment was often harsh and mentally destructive. Being raised in a militarily based home, she was treated as if she were a burden to her father. She often relates her own persecution by her father to the discrimination Germany had toward the Jews. Sylvia had many struggles in her life that were cause by either her father, Germany, or her husband. All of which left her with a feeling of insignificance, as if they would have been happier without her. It is certain that this feeling she expresses is also felt and carried by other German wives and children. The basic purpose of the poem is to dictate her feelings toward all of these men, mainly her father. This release of all that has been carried inside her is a means of closure for the treatment she has received. As a larger picture, Sylvia has also documented, from the inside, what it was like for the German dependant in a time of terrible hatred toward people who were seen as weak and insignificant.

As Sylvia gets older and begins to understand the wars in Germany, she relates her life to the many conflicts they bring with them. "The tongue stuck in my jaw. It stuck in a barbwire snare. Ich, ich, ich, ich, I could hardly speak." Again this describes her fear toward her father. She is so afraid of him that she can't talk and speak out against him. The barbwire represents the war that was taking place. She relates to the victims of war and sees herself caught in the barbwire that has been put up by her father, which keeps them separated. "I thought every German was you. And the language obscene an engine, an engine chuffing me off like a Jew." This shows that she saw the similarities between the Germans and her father. Her father sometimes treated her as badly as the Jews were being treated. He didn't think of her as a daughter, but rather as a thing that was a burden to him. "A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen." These were concentration camps. She compared her inner fear of her father and her hatred for him to these camps. She felt as if she was trapped inside one of these camps with no one to turn to. "I began to talk like a Jew. I think I may well be a Jew." Again, she describes herself as a Jew feeling like her father is pushing her away. "The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna are not very pure or true." This shows that she realizes her father is a harmful man. She knows that some things, like her father, are not very honest or moral. It is like she understands her father's ways and realizes that they are not his own, but are the ways of the Germans. "With my gypsy-ancestress and my weird luck and my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack I may be a bit of a Jew." She is questioning her relations with her father. She accepts that she is not like him. In a way wishes she were a Jew. She had rather be his born enemy than his daughter that he cared nothing for. "I have alway

Some common words found in the essay are:
Jew Jew, Seabury Press, Sylvia Plath, God Ghastly, Jews Sylvia, Nazi Germany, Auschwitz Belsen, fear father, ich ich, sylvia plath, ich ich ich, i've killed, cleft chin, father didn't, scared father, grey toe, life father, , didn't care,
Approximate Word count = 2051
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)