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Her father was a German immigrant and was a professor of entomology and specialized in the study of bees.
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Her father was a German immigrant and was a professor of entomology and specialized in the study of bees.
Otto's parents expected him to become a Lutheran minister, and after studying the works of Charles Darwin he became more convinced that the life of a minister was not for him. His grandparents took this as a sign of rejection, and struck his name from the family bible.
Otto only cared about his children's academic accomplishments. He had a low tolerance for young children. Sylvia tried to gain his approval.
Since her father worked a lot and her brother was sickly she didn’t get much attention from either of their parents.
Her father Otto died of many illnesses due to poor hospital care in 1940. It devastated 8 year old Plath. Many critics believe this traumatic experience affected her poetry
After Sylvia heard the news of her fathers death, she proclaimed, “I will never speak to God again”
Plath denounces her fathers dominance over her life and among other allusions associate him with Nazism and herself with a holocaust victim. • She wrote a poem in honor of her father. Daddyby: Sylvia Plath You do not do, you do not do Any more, black shoeIn which I have lived like a footFor thirty years, poor and white,Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.Daddy, I have had to kill you.You died before I had time--Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,Ghastly statue with one gray toeBig as a Frisco sealAnd a head in the freakish AtlanticWhere it pours bean green over blueIn the waters off beautiful Nauset.I used to pray to recover you.Ach, du.In the German tongue, in the Polish townScraped flat by the rollerOf wars, wars, wars.But the name of the town is common.My Polack friendSays there are a dozen or two.So I never could tell where youPut your foot, your root,I never could talk to you.The tongue stuck in my jaw.
She came to resent his death because she wasn’t able to achieve the relationship that she desperately desired from him.
She claimed “that she felt like her father was trying to drag her down into the grave with him.”
Sylvia became a perfectionist and an over achiever due to her fathers death. This led to her mental breakdown.