The first encounter with Helga Crane, Nella Larsen’s protagonist in the novel Quicksand, introduces the heroine unwinding after a day of work in a dimly lit room. Alone. Or, is she? Although no one else is present in the room, Helga is accompanied by her own thoughts, feelings, and her worrisome perceptions of the world around her. Helga’s anxieties and fears are perhaps some of her most challenging adversaries. And while there are human character antagonists that will soon play a significant role in the novel and in the story of Helga Crane, such as her friends, coworkers, relatives, and ultimately even her own children, there are also enemies that Helga confronts who never say a word. These quiet yet taxing antagonists appear throughout …show more content…
Unemployment, hunger, and dwindling funds become hurdles, to name a few. It is here, however, that Helga confronts her dark past. Her experience at Uncle Peter’s “old stone house” invokes memories of her troubling childhood (Larsen 24). Larsen uses intense images to describe Helga’s agonizing recollection of the memories. These images create an extended metaphor of pain, described with words such as “numb,” “wound,” “stinging hurt,” and “obscene sore” (Larsen 26). It becomes apparent that Helga’s struggle with her harsh bi-racial upbringing is one of her most distressing antagonists. Fleeing again, Helga heads for …show more content…
And Helga herself becomes more of a sexual object as a result. Her Aunt Katrina and Herr Dahl persuade Crane to play the part of the exotic female by encouraging her to dress provocatively, wear more make-up, don higher-heels, and to flaunt gaudy jewelry. Larsen notes that, at first “she liked the compliments in the men’s eyes” at her “exotic, almost savage” new appearance, which seemed to draw her much attention. (Larsen 56-57). It becomes clear to Helga, though, that her aunt and uncle were merely using their niece for “advancing their social fortunes” and soon Helga develops “dissatisfaction with her peacock’s life” (Larsen 65). Helga must say good-bye to
...s because Helga has not experienced inner happiness. Helga uses her ethnicity as a crutch of why her life has not panned out as it should and she indulges in her own self-pity that only fires her negative defiance. This personal factor has an effect on her outlook and attitude on life and causes her to make selfish and irrational decisions further more leaving her in sorrow and self-pity. When Helga taught at Naxo, she built inside of her a rage of anger and instead of using her disapproval as momentum in changing the world; she used it to fire her thoughts of unfairness and resentment, which she brings her to spiritual and physical defeat in the end.
In Nella Larsen's Quicksand, Helga Crane passively opts out of situations; her actions are consistently reactionary. Helga’s anxiety is the figurative “quicksand” in which she sinks throughout the novel: Helga is too afraid to commit to a decision and thus flees geographically, failing to realize she can not find happiness through avoiding decisions.
The Influence of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois on the Writings from the Harlem Renaissance
DeFalco, Amelia. "Jungle creatures and dancing apes: modern primitivism and Nella Larsen's Quicksand." Mosaic [Winnipeg] 38.2 (2005): 19+. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
The definition of home is: the place where one lives permanently. Home is a place where one feels accepted, loved, and comfortable enough to be themselves completely. In Nella Larsen’s “Quicksand”, main character Helga is a bi-racial woman in the 1920’s who struggles internally with where she feels she belongs and where she can call home. Throughout the entire novel Helga moves to many different places to try and feel at home. In the society that Helga is cursed to have to live in, biracial people are not common and rarely accepted in many communities. Personally I don’t feel like Helga would have ever found a place to call her real home, using the definition where home is a permanent place to comfortably live, where she would chose to stay
Lewis’s viewpoint is not without it’s truths. The Harlem renaissance was overseen by a number of intellectuals such as Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, and W.E.B. Dubois. Booker T. Washington‘s, a highly influential speaker of the age, words appealed to both Caucasians and African-Americans. Washington forged an interracial bridge of communication through his unique tactics in the quest for equality. He believed in more subtle ways of gaining equality through hard work, cunning, and humility. He stated, “The wisest among my race understands that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremist folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing.”(Salley, 15) With this statement, Washington himself denies that this new awakening in equality and arts could be forced,...
Harlem Renaissance. (2007) The Columbia Eletronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Retrieved October 7, 2007 from Web site: http://www.factmonster.com./ce6/ent/A0822748.html
Helga feels most out of place when she has to confront the eroticism of the clubs in Harlem and her disassociation from sexuality. For example, Helga realizes how the music moves her in the club, “… the music died, she dragged herself back to the present with a conscious effort; and shameful certainty that not only had she been in the jungle, but she had enjoyed it…” (Larsen, 59). Helga also feels social disconnection from Anne Grey who’s hypocritical of the culture she participates in. Anne Grey makes her hypocrisy clear when she says, “That’s what’s the matter with the Negro race. They won’t stick together. She certainly ought to be ostracized”, while at the same time participating in white society and even enjoying the music and other cultural products (Larsen, 61). Due to Helga’s alternative views to that of the Harlem and New York City society she leaves for Denmark where instead of feeling appreciated she’s fetishized and put on display like a freak show. Helga realizes she’s being made into an eroticized version of herself when Herr Olsen says, “…You have the warm impulsive nature of Africa, but, my lovely, you have, I fear, the soul of a prostitute. You sell yourself to the highest bidder, I should of course be happy that it is I…” (Larsen, 87). For this and other reasons, Helga leaves Denmark and moves back to New York City but this is not her final
Quicksand centers on the live of an African American women, Helga Crane and her place in society. She searches for a community in which she feels at home; her journey takes her from the Southern United States, to Harlem, and to Denmark-- where her white relatives live. In each setting Helga negotiates her place in society facing the challenges of being both a biracial person and a woman. Every location, however, forces Helga to confront the stereotypes that confine her. Ultimately, Helga enters a loveless marriage of convenience and returns to the South. Unable to express her individuality, Helga is resigned to live a life that denies her the autonomy she has struggled for.
"Harlem Renaissance". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2014
Throughout Nella Larsen’s Quicksand, Helga is portrayed as a woman of impeccable taste. Her luxurious possessions literally frame her in the opening paragraph of the novel. Helga, much like a skilled artist, is seen throughout her Great Migration to be creating a work of monumental proportions – a portrait of her own self. However, it soon becomes apparent that Helga is unsure of her identity, being “a pretty, solitary girl with no family connections” (33). Moreover, as a child of
The Harlem Renaissance refers to a prolific period of unique works of African-American expression from about the end of World War I to the beginning of the Great Depression. Although it is most commonly associated with the literary works produced during those years, the Harlem Renaissance was much more than a literary movement; similarly, it was not simply a reaction against and criticism of racism. The Harlem Renaissance inspired, cultivated, and, most importantly, legitimated the very idea of an African-American cultural consciousness. Concerned with a wide range of issues and possessing different interpretations and solutions of these issues affecting the Black population, the writers, artists, performers and musicians of the Harlem Renaissance had one important commonality: "they dealt with Black life from a Black perspective." This included the use of Black folklore in fiction, the use of African-inspired iconography in visual arts, and the introduction of jazz to the North.[i] In order to fully understand the lasting legacies of the Harlem Renaissance, it is important to examine the key events that led to its beginnings as well as the diversity of influences that flourished during its time.
Hughes, Langston. "Harlem." [1951] Literature. 5th ed. Eds. James H. Pickering and Jeffery D. Hoeper. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice, 1027-28.
The monkeys in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book are a very unique group of characters. They are viewed by the other animals of the jungle, or the Jungle People as they call themselves, as outcasts and outlaws. The most prominent chapter they occur in, “Kaa’s Hunting”, shows their lawless, shiftless, and uncivilized way of life. This image in itself does not give off any racist undertones.
Throughout the play, there is a feeling that the room gets darker and less lively with the piano removed as well. The play takes a turn to Hedda being more clear and intentional with her manipulations. She is very bored and irritated in her general life. Her obsessive nature to cause trouble and trying to control everything is evident very early on in the play. She starts out in a quite middle-class setting and seems very annoyed at Tesman, she does not want to be close to him, yet they just returned home from their honeymoon which is supposed to be the most romantic thing at the beginning of marriage, but hers seems just tolerable. She appears to enjoy the fact that Tesman gets worried about the competition with Lovborg, it appears to give her new “fun” activity in her life. There are parts of the play that lean towards Hedda seeming slightly hysterical or bipolar as she goes from being bored and calm to loading pistols as if it is not a big deal and then grasps Thea wildly announcing her expectations for Lovborg. She seems obsessed with trying to control those around her because she has no other “outlet” to her life. Physically, she is repelled by marital sex and, however, flirtatious with the Judge, frightened by extramarital affairs. Like so many women, she is left miserable among the