"Daddy"

Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” was a very interesting poem to read.  Initially, I was confused by this poem and was unsure of what it meant.  After my first reading, I was also very unsure of what the narrator’s feelings toward his/her father were.  The narrator seemed to alternate between hating his/her father and fondly remembering him.  After multiple readings and listening to the author read the poem out loud, however, I was finally able to gain a better grasp on what the real meaning behind this poem is. 

Through this poem, the narrator describes his/her father as a very fearsome ruler over the narrator’s life.  The narrator’s father is described as an oppressive black shoe that seems to almost smother the foot (the narrator).  He is a Godlike statue that looms over the narrator.  He is a Nazi while the narrator is a Jew.  These metaphors work well to convey the narrator’s feelings of fear and oppression toward his/her father.  Despite all of this, however, the narrator also seems to care for his/her father, miss him, and almost idolize him.  The narrator even married someone in an effort to try and replace his/her father.  By the end of the poem, the narrator seems to finally be able to step away from the father’s oppressive influence in her life and escape his shadow once and for all.