Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Delphine takes her papa's portrait everywhere. In 1916, Howard even sees it over her deathbed, where Delphine is "propped below a picture on the wall of a man with yellow hair in an old-fashioned costume" (1.47). We have no idea what Delphine's relationship with her father is like, but we do know that the system of plaçage, in which free women of color have relationships with a chosen white man, is very important to her.
This culture is so deeply embedded in Delphine's being, in fact, that she won't even marry Noah, the man she loves, because "she said her kind didn't marry white men. And she was passing for white! She said it would betray all her traditions, said her mother—her maman—would turn over in her grave" (15.35). The portrait, then, is a symbol of where Delphine comes from and serves as an anchor for her in her identity.