Sylvia Plath applies the poem "Daddy" as a means to voice her inner conflict about her true identity. Her father becomes the vehicle for her struggle, because he represents a connection to the love and admiration she felt as a child; he is an anchor to a part of herself, to which she is deeply connected. It is almost as if she becomes her father in this poem talking about her conflict of dealing with aspects of her own existence. She employs the means of fact and fiction to set free her inner struggle.
             The poem "Daddy" was written shortly before Sylvia's death, a time of her life where she was confronted with deep sadness and despair. Her life had taken a turn for the worse after the divorce from her husband, putting her into a place where she could no longer hide from herself. In the first stanza of the poem, Sylvia actually states the purpose of this poem.
             Barely daring to breathe or Achoo."
             These words, spoken to herself, have a feel of resignation, a conclusion about a life that is changing through new realizations and circumstances. She is saying that she can no longer identify herself with her father, who has served as a shield from reality; she is facing the truth and no longer protects herself from herself. In line four and five of stanza five, she reflects on her life and how she feels about it, almost as if she has nothing to show for it, as if she had barely existed. In the autobiographical work on Sylvia Plath by Linda Wagner-Martin, the father figure and his importance to Sylvia is explained. Her way of idolizing him and her attempts to become the center point of his life seemingly started her own identity loss. She made it her life purpose to be close to him. With his death, she internalized this connection and made him her m
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