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. She is alone. And while 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. Throughout the novel, it becomes clear that most of Helga’s concerns revolve around two issues- race and sex. Even though there are many human character antagonists that play
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
According to Psychology Today, Jealousy is usually regarded as the emotional reaction to a threat to one’s relationship with a real or imagined romantic rival. In the short story Passing by Nella Larsen, the aforementioned description can be attributed to the story’s main protagonist. Within the story, Irene Redfield develops feelings of jealousy towards her friend Clare Kendry. Although the two women are initially close, the relationship between the two is severed when Irene starts to believe Clare
Everyone feels lonely and sad at times throughout his or her lives, but when that feeling is never satisfied, it becomes like an illness. Trying to desperately find where you fit in and feel at home can be exhausting and in some cases never ending. In Nella Larsen’s Quicksand, there is a constant theme of isolation and alienation, which subsequently affects every aspect of the main character, Helga Crane’s, life throughout the novella. When we first meet Helga in the beginning of Quicksand we right away
Nella Larsen's Passing The Harlem Renaissance was a turning point for many African Americans. A vast amount of literature was created specifically for this group during this era. It was a period when the African American "was in vogue" and "white thinkers and writers were devoting a considerable amount of attention" to them (Taylor 91, 90). For the first time, African Americans were being told that it was okay to be proud of who they were. This new consciousness and self-awareness was prominent
The Root of Jealousy In Nella Larsen’s Passing, Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry show us a great deal about race and sexuality in the 1920s. Both are extremely light-skinned women of African-American descent. However similar they appear to be, their views on race, a very controversial issue at the time, differ significantly. Clare chooses to use her physical appearance as an advantage in America’s racist and sexist society, leaving behind everything that connects her to her African-American identity
This essay will focus on how the novel Passing by Nella Larsen engages with the theme identity. Before proceeding, it is worth defining identity in order to understand how that definition does and does not work in the analysis of Passing. According to the Oxford dictionary, identity means ‘the fact of being who or what a person or thing is’, it is ‘the characteristics determining who or what a person or thing is’. A person retains a sense of self identity, or a sense that they belong in a culture
Identity and Duality in Nella Larsen’s Passing The Harlem Renaissance was a 1920’s cultural movement that allowed African Americans growth after years of discrimination hindered them culturally. There are many well renowned writers associated with the movement, however although unrecognized Nella Larsen was a very relevant and important contribution with her novels Passing and Quicksand. Her novel Passing in particular, focuses on the lives of Irene and Brian Redfield and John Bellow and how their
the margin and the shape of the text, how it fits into the big picture of categorization, begins to take form. African-American literature has a rich tradition that exemplifies this concept: From Equiano and Harriot Jacobs' slave narratives to Nella Larsen and James Wheldon Johnson's "passing;" from Phyllis Wheatley and Countee Cullen's solemn classical poetic forms to the eloquent anger of the 1960s Black Arts movement, the universal thread of discord and displacement influence the overall design
Passing The novel, Passing by Nella Larsen, tells a story of two African- American women’s who work hard for the American dream. Larson demonstrates certain conflicts such as betrayal, jealousy, lies, race, and sexuality. Clare Kendry and Irene Reinfield were childhood friends, but when Clare’s father died, she moved away with her aunts and Irene never saw her again. Both Clare and Irene are light skinned who may pass as white. Irene stays with her race while Clare abandons her race by passing as
In Nella Larsen’s Passing, a narrow line is towed between pride of the race one has chosen, and desire of the race one has not. The protagonist in this novel, Irene Renfield, grapples between feeling proud of her race and jealousy of the societal and social advantages that passing as white provides, which is represented through her friend Clare Kendry. Irene and Clare are mulatto women living in Harlem during the 1920s. Their mixed race allows them to “pass” as white or be seen as black, Clare has
Nella Larsen portrays double consciousness in her novel Passing. She allows her characters, Irene and Clare, to explore their cultural identities in the Harlem Neighborhood of New York City in the 1920’s, as well as dealing with the effects of racism in their society. In the novel Passing, Larsen has female characters Irene and Clare who are of African American descent. Although the two women have an African American background, they are also light skinned enough to pass as white women. Irene and
McKenzie Banks Rebecca Yacker English 2 Honors March 1st 2024 Passing and Quicksand: Nella Larsen and the Biracial Identity Race Is a difficult yet easy thing. Someone is born with a label placed onto them based on the background of their parents, however, what if a person is born without a label, without an identity that can properly be expressed, Nella Larsen's novels Quicksand and Passing demonstrate that experience. Larsen was a biracial writer whose stories have left readers conversing on the themes
Published in 1929, Passing by Nella Larsen is a novel that explores the lives of middle class African-Americans in the 1920s. It focuses on two childhood friends Clare and Irene who reconnect later in life to discover that Clare is married to a white man and is ‘passing’ as a white woman, whilst Irene identifies as a black woman and only ‘passes’ when she has too. Race, racism and racial passing are the key themes within Larsen’s text. The reality of racism is also revealed through character John
Nella Larsen’s most famous novel, Passing, was published in 1929 which was in the middle of an era with fundamental values that incorporated racism and segregation. In the context of this time period, Jim Crow laws were instituted in order to keep the power with the whites. This gave rise to segregation of the races, and emboldened racist ideals that were largely held at the time. Given the context of the time period, it is not surprising that race played a crucial factor into the tragedy of both
much simpler than uncovering an African American character. The foundation of passing can be credited to racism and its furtherance is attributed to the prejudice against misogyny, sexism, ethnocentrism etc. A famous literary account of passing is Nella Larsen’s novel Passing; in this novel she reveals that passing is more than just a racial conflict and that it is about social status and identity.
Passing by Nella Larsen, it talks about the passing women that are afraid of exposing their real racial identity in the white
characters of each. What are each woman’s strengths? Her weakness? What is each woman’s attitude towards race? How did these attitudes influence the novel's plot? The author of passing Nella Larsen undermines the historic conception of gender, ethnic and race where she transforms the idea of a preferred definition of identity. Larsen uses unstable characters to show how easily one can lose his sense of self. Due to her timely death, Clare does not have a chance to relate to a specific race where she ends up
The final text I have chosen is Quicksand by the American female author Nella Larsen. Just like Little Women, Quicksand could be seen to be a biographical account of Larsen’s life in the Harlem renaissance. The novel follows the life of a female protagonist called Helga Crane, who is a young mixed race woman, struggling to find a correct place within society. “The geography of the soul, the rocky, rich terrain of dreams, is in reality the setting for Quicksand and Passing. Helga Crane and Clare Kendry
Passing, by Nella Larsen is a book of racial identification focused on the reunion of two childhood friends, Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield. Clare and Irene’s relationship reflects jealousy and envy throughout the story. This novel tells a story of two African American woman who are very similar, yet different with their experiences of “passing” as white. In passing, Clare and Irene create a unique feeling of identity and belonging. Irene has the ability to suppress her feelings as well as a strong