Bellocq's Ophelia pg. 17-19

       This poem was set to take place in February 1911. It starts off with Opelia's description of the other girls. She says they are similar to the girls she used to know. Many of them like the warm meals and perfumed soaps they are given. Unlike Ophelia, the other girls only wear their undercloths around the house. She is subtly teased for her proper cloths. She imagines her friend's excitement from these events. She spoke in a loud tone to the other girls. She told them, "you are what you look like" (Tretheway 17).She thinks it would change the way they present themselves.
       The next stanza focused on the men that came to the house. Some men only want to hear the women talk or look upon their faces. There are also those who only want what can not be explained on paper. She then explains how she can live like this. Ophelia feels like a young girl again, seeing the way her body had changed. She stares at herself in the tub until her shivering frame overwhelms her. While at the house, she also imagines she is back at home imagining the men leaning over her at the farm store.