{"id":444,"date":"2012-10-17T19:38:54","date_gmt":"2012-10-17T23:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.briancroxall.net\/lit-tech\/?p=444"},"modified":"2012-10-17T19:38:54","modified_gmt":"2012-10-17T23:38:54","slug":"once-upon-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.briancroxall.net\/lit-tech\/2012\/10\/17\/once-upon-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Once Upon a Time…"},"content":{"rendered":"

A story is defined as a fictitious tale and it is no coincidence that Tretheway chose to name the town in Bellocq\u2019s Ophelia<\/em> Storyville. Though the description of the setting reminds the reader of a fairy tale, what occurs behind this story book fa\u00e7ade is far from it. Aside from the obvious fictitious story, the name of Storyville reflects Ophelia\u2019s desire to live the life of someone else.<\/p>\n

When prostitutes are selected and used for their services, all of their human qualities are ignored and they are objectified by the customer. Ophelia is forced to go by a name other than her own, pose as if she is a mannequin, and bleaches her skin white. She is pushed deeper into the role of a fictional character as she hides who she truly is.<\/p>\n

Ophelia also tries to hide her past and start anew at the brothel. She attempts to become a new person but her memories haunt her and prevent her from doing so. She wants \u201cfreedom from memory\u201d so she can \u201cthen be somebody else, born again,\u201d but cannot (Tretheway 24). Ophelia wants nothing more than to forget her past and move on with her new life, but her memories of her father and her cotton-picking days follow her.<\/p>\n

She also cannot bear to remind herself or Constance about the horrifying things she has seen. Ophelia prefers to omit these experiences from her memory and writing, pretending that they never happened and are but a story. She writes to her friend, \u201cAnd then there are those, of course, whose desires I cannot commit to paper\u201d (Tretheway 18). What she has done is so unbearable, that she chooses to keep it a secret and act as though it happened to the character she plays, rather than herself.<\/p>\n

Life at a brothel has the power to cover up a prostitute\u2019s true self. Ophelia attempts to do this by erasing her memory, changing her name, and acting as someone she is not. Ophelia poses for a photograph, \u201cNow I face the camera, wait for the photograph to show me who I am\u201d (Tretheway 21). She tries so hard to cover up whom she once was that she loses sight of who she has become. She records her quest to bury her true identity and become but a character in a story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A story is defined as a fictitious tale and it is no coincidence that Tretheway chose to name the town in Bellocq\u2019s Ophelia Storyville. Though the description of the setting reminds the reader of a fairy tale, what occurs behind this story book fa\u00e7ade is far from it. Aside from the obvious fictitious story, the<\/p>\n