The phrase 'black telephone's off at the root' strongly symbolizes the speaker's decisive and irreversible act of severing all emotional and psychological connection with her deceased father. It signifies a complete breakdown and termination of communication.
A telephone typically represents communication and connection. The color black can suggest death, mourning, or a sinister presence. The act of cutting it 'off at the root' implies a drastic, foundational, and permanent disconnection, rather than just a temporary interruption.
This imagery reflects the speaker's final step in attempting to liberate herself from the overwhelming and oppressive influence of her father, whom she portrays as a tyrannical, almost Nazi-like figure.
It marks a shift from a state of being haunted and controlled by the father's memory to an active rejection and metaphorical 'killing' of his pervasive hold. The speaker's declaration, 'Daddy, daddy, you bast_rd, I'm through,' reinforces this finality.
This line is crucial in understanding the poem's central theme of liberation through confrontation and rejection, not reconciliation. It is the climax of the speaker's struggle to reclaim her identity.
