African American Literature Spotlight: Quicksand by Nella Larsen

Harlem Renaissance writer, Nella Larsen was not the most prolific writer, but her contributions to the canon of African American literature are great. Her characters are well crafted examinations in human nature. In Laresen's novel Quicksand, Helga Crane's journey begins at Naxos, a prestigious black school where she has been a teacher for two years. From the beginning, Helga makes it clear that she does not fit in at the institution. As a result, Helga routinely separates herself from the "carelessly unkind and gossiping faculty" (1087). This separation and alienation is heavily influenced by Helga's background. She is a product of an interracial union and has never truly felt connected to either her black or white heritage. However, in Naxos Helga's alienation is self imposed. Despite her engagement to Jim Vayle and her seemingly cordial relationship to Margaret Creighton, Helga still believes Naxos to be stifling and hypocritical. Her assessment of the school seems to stem from the person unrest within Helga more than anything else. She is dissatisfied with the relationships in her life and she is unfulfilled at her job. Helga set out so remedy the situation by leaving the school.

Helga goes out to secure herself a job and a chance to prove herself. She is given an opportunity to work as an assistant for Mrs. Hayes-Rore. After taking the job, Helga decides that she will relocate to New York and start a new life. Helga feels empowered by her decision and feels as if she has been "reborn" (1107). For Helga, making decisions for herself and constant change rejuvenate her. She has a need to be in control of her own destiny and to feel like she is in control of the situations she finds herself in. In Harlem, Helga had a place to live, a stable job and good friends. She was free and for Helga, freedom was happiness.

However, soon the old Helga resurfaced and she was plagued with feelings of doubt, insecurity, and alienation. Where she once felt connected to the heart of Harlem, Helga soon became disconnected. After receiving a note from her Uncle Peter urging her to reconnect with her Aunt Katrina who "always wanted" her in Denmark, Helga begins to look at Harlem differently. She laments that "She didn't, in spite of her racial markings, belong to these dark segregated people. She was different. She felt it. It wasn't merely a mater of color. It was something broader, deeper, that made folk kin. And now she was free" (1119). Helga is questioning her own identity and her connections to the community around her. Helga does not connect with and is not concerned with the race problem. Although she looks like the people of Harlem, she is not one of the people of Harlem. Helga is not 100% comfortable with her own existence.

After brief say abroad, Helga returns to the Unites States. Back in the United States, Helga tries again to find the happy wholeness that she has been searching for since Naxos. She is perplexed by the world that she lives in. She describes "This knowledge, this certainty of the division of her life into two parts in two lands, into physical freedom in Europe and spiritual freedom in America, was unfortunate, inconvenient, expensive" (1144). For Helga, the duality of her life has provided her with a fractured sense of self and permanence. Although she is learning to accept more of her self and acknowledge herself as a member of a community, she still lacks the stability of life that truly makes someone whole.

In the end, Helga Crane finds herself married with four children and another on the way. In Helga Crane, Larsen shows that part of the journey to wholeness is learning to live with the choices we make. Helga thought she wanted stability and she believed she would get it by marrying Reverend Green. But in the end she is left with only her dreams and the life she created for herself. Although Helga does not succeed in getting the life she wanted, she does learn life lessons which bring her closer to the true Helga Crane.

Works Cited

Larsen, Nella. "Quicksand" The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, 2^nd Ed.