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 to

ward him. That she was so appalled by his character that she would end his life if only she had the strength. But he died before she grew strong enough to stand up to his horrible countenance. The next portion of the poem, "Marble-heavy, a bag full of God, Ghastly statue with one grey toe big as a Frisco seal," shows how large she sees his presence. Comparing him to the weight of marble with the powers of God. However the one grey toe, which was injured, and allowed for sickness to set in, brought him to nothing. Something she had not the power to do, and something as insignificant as a tiny sore could.

"In 1940, Otto developed a sore on his toe and ignored the condition until gangrene overtook the toe and he was hospitalized. Doctors performed surgery, but it was too late. Otto's toe was amputated in hopes of saving him. Sylvia's father passed away in November, 1940." Source: Butscher, Edward. Sylvia Plath: Method and Madness. New York: The Seabury Press, 1976.

In her later years, Sylvia is able to reflect on life with her father in a more objective manner. "You stand at the blackboard, daddy, in the picture I have of you, a cleft in your chin instead of your foot but no less a devil for that, no not any less the black man who bit my pretty red heart in two." She describes him as a devil with a cleft in his chin symbolizing the hoofed foot of s demon. In her eyes he is a monster whom she has been afraid to confront all of her life. She admits that he has hurt her in the past. She references him with the color black, to illustrate that he is a kind of dark person. "I was ten when they buried you. At twenty I tried to die and get back, back, back to you." She compares her father's death with the attempted suicide of her own. She felt that if she could die that it would punish her father. "I thought even the bones would do. But they pulled me out of the sack, and they stuck me together with glue." This passage states that she almost died. People took care of her and prevented her from committing suicide. "And then I knew what to do. I made a model of you, a man in black with a Meinkampf look and a love of the rack and the screw. And I said I do, I do." Since she could not bring her father back to life she decided to find someone just like her father. She married a man that resembled her father and even acted like him. "So daddy, I'm finally through. The black telephone's off at the root, the voices just can't worm through." She realizes that she has given up hope of living. She can't hear anyone anymore trying to tell her to live. She doesn't want to listen to them anymore. "If I've killed one man, I've killed two--The vampire who said he was you and drank my blood for a year, seven years, if you want to know." She describes her husband as a Vampire. It is similar to the way she thinks of her father. She compares them with symbols that are both evil. "Daddy, you can lie back now. There's a stake in your fat black heart and the villagers never liked you." This shows the comparison of her h

Some common words found in the essay are:
Jew Jew, Seabury Press, Sylvia Plath, God Ghastly, Jews Sylvia, Nazi Germany, Auschwitz Belsen, fear father, Poem Daddy, ich ich, sylvia plath, ich ich ich, didn't care, father didn't, life father, grey toe, cleft chin, taroc pack, scared father,
Approximate Word count = 2057
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)