In Tuesday\u2019s class, we spent a majority of the time discussing race, one of the main themes in Trethewey\u2019s Bellocq\u2019s Ophelia. In Ophelia Speaks: Resurrecting Still Lives, Annette Debo asserts that there is an ironic contrast between Ophelia\u2019s initial yearning to be acknowledged as white and her customers obsession with her black traits. I believe that this contrast is a result of Ophelia\u2019s acceptance of race, initially running away from it to later acknowledging and favoring the benefits of race.<\/p>\n
\tAt the beginning of Bellocq\u2019s Ophelia, the readers acknowledge Ophelia\u2019s desire to be viewed as a white woman by society rather than black. In Ophelia\u2019s letter Letter Home, she tells the audience that she has left home to find a job in New Orleans. However, Ophelia never explicitly explains to the readers the reason for her leaving. I believe that Ophelia leaves her home to escape the unnamed \u201cwhite man\u201d, probably identified as Ophelia\u2019s father, who \u201cleaned over [her], pinching\/ the tiny buds of [her] new breasts\/ sneering\u201d (February 1911, Trethewey 18). In other words, Ophelia was escaping her \u2018white\u2019 father and running away from sexual assault. In addition, Ophelia is taught as a child to \u201ccurtsy and be still\/ so that {she} might please a white man, [her] father\u201d (March 1911, Trethewey 20). Debo states Ophelia\u2019s father \u201cis clearly a man of a higher social class\u201d (Debo) because of the color of his skin and because of Ophelia\u2019s proper manners. When Ophelia travels to New Orleans to improve her employment options \u201cshe decided to pass for white, but constantly fears that she will be found out despite her skin\u201d (Debo). In other words, Ophelia believes that the only opportunity for employment will be to conceal her color. This is another example of Ophelia running away from race, by physically \u201cdressing each day\/ in [her] best, hand covered with the lace gloves\u201d as she \u201cwalk[s] these street\/ a white woman\u201d (Letter Home, Trethewey 7). <\/p>\n
\tAt the beginning of Bellocq\u2019s Ophelia, it appears that Ophelia hides from race running away from the sexual abuse of her white father and physically disguising herself as a white woman in New Orleans. However, as Debo recognizes, there is this ironic contrast between Ophelia\u2019s \u201cworry that her African blood will be identified\u201d to her \u201ccustomers obsession with finding markers of her African heritage in her\u201d as a sex worker (Debo). Ophelia\u2019s white customers \u201clook for evidence-telltale\/half-moons in our fingernails\/ a bluish tint beneath the skin\u201d (August 1911, Trethewey 26) that identify Ophelia as black and, as a result, receive a larger paycheck. Furthermore, when Ophelia arrives at the brothel, the Countess at the auction calls her \u201cAfrican Violet for the promise\/of that wild continent hidden beneath\/ my white skin\u201d (Letter From Storyville, Trethewey 13). In the brothel, though being a prostitute is not the ideal situation, Ophelia comes to realize the advantages of her race. As a result of her race, Ophelia is able to make enough of an earning to move west, where she can be who she wants. The readers acknowledge Ophelia\u2019s acceptance of the self \u201cMarch 1912 Postcard, en route westward\u201d, where the imagery of springtime represent re-birth and re-newel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In Tuesday\u2019s class, we spent a majority of the time discussing race, one of the main themes in Trethewey\u2019s Bellocq\u2019s Ophelia. In Ophelia Speaks: Resurrecting Still Lives, Annette Debo asserts that there is an ironic contrast between Ophelia\u2019s initial yearning to be acknowledged as white and her customers obsession with her black traits. I believe<\/p>\n