Unraveling the Multifaceted Narratives of Mixed-Race Identity in Natasha Trethewey's Bellocq’s Ophelia and Thrall

Abstract

Trethewey's poetry is an intervention into a worldwide debate about defining and socially restricting mixed-race identities; therefore, this research addresses these issues. In Gulfport, Mississippi, Trethewey was raised by relatives whose mixed-race marriage was unlawful. Her poetry has several allusions to both her dad, a writer, academic, and Canadian immigrant, and her mom, a caseworker. Trethewey's poetry intertwines the tale of her personal mixed ancestors with the racial history of America, even while combining this story with lyricism. "I'm capable of getting closer to the inner reality of a poem when the poetry leans towards the poetic," Trethewey remarked in her address. She used a poem entitled "Incident" from her Pulitzer Prize-winning book Native Guard as an instance. Her grandma sponsored a voting registration campaign for disadvantaged African Americans in the 1960s, and the Ku Klux Klan burned a symbol in her family's yard as a result. Trethewey reconstructed an early form of the poem to encapsulate the complete tale of the occurrence in the first four lines. This allowed her to utilize the rest of the poem to emphasize additional psychological realities. Unraveling the Multifaceted Narratives of Mixed-Race Identity in Natasha Trethewey's Bellocq’s Ophelia and Thrall is the ground upon which this study stands.