Daddy Good Country People and Shiloh Essay -- essays papers

Daddy Good Country tidy sum and Shiloh Sylvia Plaths Daddy, Flannary OConnors Good Country People, and Bobbie Ann Masons Shiloh all have something in common. In each, the relationship between a parent and child is discussed. It is left up to the proofreader to decide the nature of the relationship. Although what stands out in Sylvia Plaths poem Daddy is the Nazi imagery, it is interesting to note that the father is not called a Nazi in the first half of the poem. In the first stanza he is a black shoe / In which she has lived like a foot (2-3) which is certainly a smother image but not yet a clear reference to the fathers evil nature. Next he is Marble heavy, a bag full of deity and a Ghastly statue (8-9), images which reveal the daughters struggle to cope with his terminal but do not reflect any bad intent on the split of the father. From line 15 to the midway point of Daddy, Plath begins to use Nazi imagery, but she still does not attack the father. Instead, the po em focuses on the daughters frustrating attempt to refer with her dead father through his native language, German. In the second half of Daddy, it is difficult at first to pinpoint where Plath starts to include thoughts of her hubby. The speaker of the poem doesnt make specific reference of a marriage until line 67, there is evidence before that which suggests that the speaker had found a replacement for her father. The language of lines 48 to 50, Every woman adores a Fascist, / The boot in the face, the brute / Brute heart of a brute like you, connotes an abusive relationship between husband and wife, not parent and child. Likewise, the phrase the black man who / Bit my pretty red heart in two (55-56) is much more approp... ...d Norma Jean for the death of her baby, claiming that Norma Jean neglected the child. For years Mabel was after Leroy and Norma Jean to take a trip to Shiloh, the site of a Civil War bout that ended tragically. This battle was the first indication of h ow horrible the war would be, just as Norma Jean began to realized what her life would be like with Leroy home all of the time. Somewhere along the trip Norma Jean decided to end the marriage. Mabel pushed Norma Jean into marriage when Leroy got her pregnant, Mabel criticized her all of the time, Mabel seemed to always take Leroys side when discussing Norma Jean, and Mabel pushed for the trip to Shiloh. Norma Jeans feelings of animosity most likely stem from her mothers overbearing qualities.BibliographySylvia Plaths DaddyFlannary OConnors Good Country PeopleBobbie Ann Masons Shiloh