In her literary critique, “Ophelia Speaks,” Annette Debo claims that through Bellocq’s Ophelia Trethewey is showing how significant work is in someone’s life. Trethewey does this through providing certain “layers of looking” that are “complicated by the racial and gender identity of each person looking and by the way in which people are trained to look” (Debo 207). Debo then goes on to describe the different people who are looking and why they look at the Ophelia among other photographs or pieces of art certain ways. Thus, because Ophelia has chosen sex work, it changes how people look at her and how she looks at her self. While I agree that Trethewey emphasizes different perceptions throughout the collection of poems, I disagree that it is to further emphasize the importance of work.
I believe that Trethewey plays with perception in order to show that people are actually not defined by their work or their job. Nothing is as it seems. Photography is a tool used to show different perspectives and to force people to look at perhaps the same subject but with a different focus. Debo argues that in the poem “Bellocq,” Ophelia writes “I’m not so foolish/that I don’t know this phtograph we make/will bear the stamp of his name, not mine” (Trethewey 39), so as to mean that Ophelia is objectified because although she is a crucial factor in the making of this photograph, she will not be credited. Though this may be true, I see it in a different way. Bellocq uses photography as his media of art. Debo also talks about making the subject more vulnerable to its audiences by making it more of an object. In keeping Ophelia’s name out of the art piece, Bellocq is sparing her. He makes her less vulnerable, because it becomes more about the photograph itself rather than whom the photograph is portraying. Ophelia will be seen as a figure of art rather than a random prostitute in Bellocq’s motif.
Additionally, Ophelia may be perceived as an uneducated and low life girl because she has chosen the profession of sex work. Ophelia, however, is far from uneducated and a low life. She attempts to find a way to defy the stereotype, and ultimately finds it in photography. Because she takes up photography, she eventually “looked into/ a capped lens/ saw only my own clear eye” (46). Due to photography, Ophelia is able to look into her “own eye,” metaphorically able to look into her soul. She finds herself and thus finds the courage to leave the brothel and move on. Therefore, she finds strength in photography. Literally and figuratively, photography deals with perceptions. As Ophelia is able to overcome the stereotype of her work through photography and thus proves how her work is unsuccessful in defining her completely, Trethewey uses perception throughout her poem collection to show how people can break free from society’s definition of them. Overall, I disagree with Debo’s argument that looking and perception is a way to show the significant impact work has on one’s life.
Although I agree with the assertion you make of Ophelia finding strength through the use of photography, I do not agree that this newfound interest removes her given stereotypes. In other words, photography does allow her to progress as a person, but it does not aid her in defying the stereotypes of her profession. Way before she enters her profession, the audience already knows that she is educated and well mannered, and the snapshots don’t seem to provide sense of these traits. Rather than displaying these traits, the pictures provide for an empowering depiction of Ophelia, that continues to evolve, which ultimately leads to the epiphany you talk about. Retrospectively, I do agree that photography caters to advancing Ophelia’s life, but I do not seem to see how it removes her stereotypes.
Amanda, I think you’re reaching some really interesting conclusions and insights here, but I’m a bit mystified about your view that Debo’s argument is about the importance of work. You’d need to provide some direct evidence from her argument to this point.