Identity was a clear theme throughout Bellocq’s Ophelia, within the first poem it paints a picture of the relationship between the Ophelia of Millais’s painting versus the photographed prostitutes of Storyville, New Orleans. The similarities between how they’re viewed, being trapped in a sense, and how they’re more so known for their final pictures. That moment captured in time was important, but Trethewey’s poems explored a more intimate look at a woman’s life as one of the nameless women photographed. In “Letter Home” she asked questions like “Do I deceive anyone?” and there’s this idea that she had eyes on her at all time, that somehow something about her mannerisms or appearances gave away her being a mixed woman in these times. The imagery of the parlor being lined with mirrors, constantly reflecting different angles of both the speaker and of others reinforced the idea of being under scrutiny and observation. “For our customers / you must learn to be watched…” “Become what you must” (p. 11).
The speaker explored the delicate gray area of treading what one has to become to survive and holding onto who someone thinks they are. Once she began working as a prostitute, Countess P. took bits of Ophelia’s life, hinting at her past through her abilities and through her new name she was supposed to go by. It was so simple, but Ophelia’s identity ( how she’s supposed to portray herself, and the way that she was supposed to present herself in order to make a living) became so warped. It almost felt like she, and others, were looking at her through a sort of foggy mirror; there was an idea of who she is, but through necessity she becomes almost distorted as time went on. Ophelia ascertained that “I alone / have made this choice” on p. 15 but in this time there really wasn’t, it was between going hungry or resorting to prostitution so there also seemed to be a kind of internal struggle to say that she had agency over her own life as a way of consoling her friend (or anyone who may read this quasi-diary). The same idea was explored through her relationship with being photographed, how even though she was the subject she still knew who she was could only be filtered through Bellocq’s gaze. Even the fact that the last poem is from Bellocq’s perspective where he seemed to be talking about her was interesting, the final image of her in the book wasn’t even from her own perspective. Who she is and what she wants is to start over with a new identity and a quiet place and I think that goal is the closest that even she came to understanding herself.