Quicksand

Quicksand: Characters

The novel's main character, Helga Crane, is involved in a love triangle with her friend Anne Grey and Dr. Anderson.

Helga Crane

Helga Crane is a highly educated biracial woman trying to figure out where she belongs in a racially segregated America. Coming from interracial marriage, Helga's mother was a white woman from Denmark, while her father was a biracial man from the West Indies. Her light-skinned complexion and dark hair make her a striking beauty that stands out in white and Black environments.

Helga profoundly identifies with her Black identity and becomes a proponent of a new Black consciousness separate from the mainstream white culture. She is encouraged by her time in Harlem, visiting jazz clubs where she meets an emerging class of Black intellectuals and artists. As well as race, Helga's experience is shaped by the limitations of gender norms and sexism. Despite being highly educated, she struggles to express her opinions and desires in a male-dominated society.

Anne Grey

When Helga moves to Harlem, she becomes roommates and friends with Anne Grey, a wealthy widow who shares Helga's commitment to promoting her Black identity. The well-connected Anne can introduce Helga to the lively cultural scene of Harlem and the Black intellectuals proclaiming a new culture rooted in Black empowerment. Anne often complains about white people and is also a vocal supporter of segregation. Helga begins to feel uncomfortable when Anne opposes interracial marriages and realizes that despite Anne's hatred of white people, she often mimics white culture at the cost of her Black identity.

Dr. Robert Anderson

When Helga is working at the Naxos school, Dr. Anderson is the principal of the Black school and an important figure in the institution's leadership. While he shares Helga's concerns about the school's racist attitudes and policies, he believes she should stay and try to fix the problem instead of leaving. When the pair meet again on the streets of New York, Helga finds herself attracted to Anderson and is heartbroken when she hears he is set to marry Anne.

Quicksand: Themes

In Quicksand, Nella Larsen explores themes of race and identity.

Race and Identity

Helga struggles to find her place as a light-skinned Black woman. Disgusted by the racist attitudes of the South and the dominant white society, Helga moves to Harlem, where she finds herself in a predominantly Black setting. However, she also struggles to find her place amongst the upper-class Black set, who talk about race consciousness and Black identity but often mimic white fashions and manners. In the exclusively white environment of Denmark, Helga is an exotic figure but soon becomes an object of fetishization. Caught between her Black and white identities, Helga finds herself unable to integrate into any of these settings fully.

Fig. 3 - In a segregated America, Helga suffers discrimination because of her biracial identity.

Helga is ostracized by the racism of everyday life in America. Even in the Black community, many of the people she meets suffer from internalized racism, which causes them to be embarrassed by their own identity and culture.

In a desperate attempt to feel part of something, Helga finally tries to find a sense of identity by becoming a preacher's wife. But her embrace of religion, marriage, and motherhood proves unfulfilling and dooms her to an unhappy life of poverty and servitude.

Quicksand: Analysis

Quicksand is told through a third-person omniscient point of view, giving the readers insight into Helga's thoughts and insights. The novella is a work of psychological fiction.

Larsen spends large portions of the book focused on Helga's thoughts, desires, and reflections, highlighting more significant social issues of class, race, and gender. Quicksand was a groundbreaking work that explored the realities of life for Black women in American society. Larsen was one of the first authors to show readers the perspective of a group that had been mainly ignored until this point. Drawing on her life experiences as material, Larsen presented the struggles of a biracial woman against society's racist and sexist limitations. Like Helga, Larsen was born to a Danish mother and a West Indian in Chicago. She struggled for many years with her biracial identity, never feeling accepted by the Black or white community.

Quicksand was published during a literary movement known as the Harlem Renaissance, which saw the emergence of many important Black writers and artists. Larsen was one of the few women in the movement and was particularly unique because of her ability to enter Black or white social settings. Larsen was able to accurately critique the shortcomings of each group's limited sense of identity and explore the plight of the individual.

Fig. 5 - Caught between the white and Black communities, Helga constantly exists on shaky grounds.

Symbolism

The book's title describes Helga's uncertainty. Unable to plant her foot solidly in either the Black or white worlds, Helga is always standing in quicksand, unsure of her next move. As well as race, Helga is trapped in the gender expectations of her time. Any expression of sexuality is viewed as immoral and dangerous as she struggles to escape the trap of these limitations; she feels herself sinking deeper into the quicksand.

Quicksand: Quotes

The section below looks at quotes from Quicksand regarding race and identity.

In her struggle for acceptance, Helga gravitates toward the Black upper classes in Harlem, who proclaim to celebrate Black identity but shun any experiences of blackness. Their rejection of vibrant Black identity is an example of internalized racism and the adoption of white values.

Helga is constantly aware of her dual identities and biracial heritage, which leaves her unable to feel at home in either Black or white settings. As she moves from place to place, looking for a home, she faces different forms of ostracization.