Paper Topic:
Daddy by Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath- Daddy Sylvia Plath used poetry as a sort of confessional catharsis whereby she allowed all of her emotions and feelings to be expressed and hopefully to be released from her conscience . In doing this her audience benefited from honest thoughts about all sorts of subjects in her life . The poem Daddy ' identifies her relationship with her father as well as the Nazi /Jew relationship , and a further investigation demonstrates a connection between the two images The poem begins with her speaking of a toe and her comparison of herself
to her father 's toe . It appears that her father had lost a toe which first became gray and eventually fell off . The line : Ghastly statue with one gray toe ' demonstrates how her father was a strong figure had one toe that was nearly falling off (9 ) In this section of the poem , Plath is describing her father . She then proceeds to describe herself as a Jew being taken away by Germans to various concentration camps . For instance , the section stating Chuffing me off like a Jew / A Jew to Dachau , Auschwitz , Belsen / I began to talk like a Jew / I think I may well be a Jew ' describes how she is like a Jew to her father (32-35 ) She then begins to suggest that she has some gypsy heritage , but may still be a Jew as well . She finally relates her feelings about her father in the later stages of the poem . She tells the audience that she had always feared her father who is supposedly German . Plath is supposedly of Jewish ancestry , so this creates some conflict in the poem . Plath continues to relate to the audience that her father had died when she was 10 years old and that she attempted suicide to be with him when she was 20 years old but failed at the attempt . Plath ends the poem speaking of how her father was more like a vampire and that she has staked him in the heart and he is finished forever
A reader could take the poem literally and realize what Plath is trying to express . First , she is comparing her father to a Nazi (who may have actually been a Nazi . Plath is comparing herself to a Jew . The two groups , the Nazis and the Jews , played important roles in WWII . The Nazis were the persecutors , and the Jews were the persecuted . Plath is commenting on her father 's lack of compassion and care for her . For instance , the lines : Every woman adores a Fascist / The boot in the face , the brute / Brute heart of a brute like you ' suggest that her father was like the Nazi fascists of WWII (48-50 ) They were brutes and tormentors of the Jewish people . She is suggesting that her father was a tormentor of her , and continues to torment her even after his death . After her father dies she demonstrates how every woman adores a Fascist by attempting to be with her father , despite all...
Not the Essay You're looking for? Get a custom essay (only for $12.99)
