Nella Larsen

Quicksand

About the Author

Nella Larsen was a renowned author in regards to the Harlem Renaissance.  She worked mainly as a nurse and librarian and only wrote two novels, Quicksand and Passing. Her biracial heritage comes into play in Quicksand, which can be seen as slightly biographical. 

About Quicksand

Much like the author, the main character of Quicksand is of African American and Danish decent.  Starting off working as a teacher at an African American boarding school, Naxos, Helga Crane is disillusioned to the idea of uplift as it promoted segregation.  After leaving Naxos, she moves to Chicago where she is put down by her uncle's bigoted wife, which forces her to move to Harlem.  Upon living in Harlem, Crane experiences the hypocritical lives of the African American bourgeoisie.  Continually dissatisfied with her life and unable to fit in because of her biracial identity, the novel brings into play double consciousness , the color line, and multiple issues concerning uplift, the "race problem" and more.


Below is a video about the Harlem Renaissance.

  

Discussion Question 1

The use of colors is prevalent throughout the novel. How do these colors represent Helga Crane's character and her identity crisis? What do you think it means by the fact she married a man named Pleasant Green?

Discussion Question 2

Helga's identity crisis and refusal to accept her biracial heritage leads her to dissatisfaction, how does this factor into her hedonistic tendencies and relationships with men?

Fact 1

Nella Larsen was once accused of plagiarism, having been said to copy Sheila Kaye-Smith's Mrs. Adis with her story Sanctuary. However, the charges were dropped and plagiarism was not proved.  An online version of Mrs. Adis can be found here. 

Analytic Paragraph

The theme of identity crisis and self-loathing is prevalent in Nella Larsen's character Helga Crane. Helga's biracial background and refusal to find peace with herself results in a lifetime of loneliness and unhappiness. Helga is constantly running from who she is and in doing so, isolates herself from all those around her. She leaves Naxos because she is unhappy with the workings of a school that is run by white men who want to control blacks. However, as Dr. Anderson points out,she will find hypocrisy and injustice all over the world. When she reaches Chicago, she seems to just spend money and feel sorry for herself, and finds herself alone. It seems as though she tires of anything good, because being happy means that she has found peace within herself and within her racial identity. Her unhappiness with herself prevents her from connecting with men, such as Dr. Anderson, who she had intense feelings for. In fact, Helga runs from Dr. Anderson and he ends up marrying Anne Grey. His marriage sends Helga running, once more. In her flight, she meets the Reverend Greene, whom she marries. The story ends with Helga, once more, unhappy with her life and with her role of motherhood. She at one point in the even claimed that she did not ever want to have children, for she hates herself too much to do them the crime of bringing more biracial or black children into the world. I feel that if Helga were to ever truly be happy with her life she would need to come to terms with her race and accept herself as a biracial woman.