Identity In Quicksand

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Nella Larsen’s book Quicksand is centered around a young woman named Helga Crane who struggles with her racial identity due to the fact that she was born to a white mother and a black father. Her father left her and her mother when she was very young and her mother died when Helga was a teenager, but her mother’s family still plays a role in the story. Helga also mentions her parents in her interactions, letting the reader know that her relationship to her parents, or lack thereof, plays a large role in her ability to connect to her racial and familial identity. Early in the novel, Helga mentions her biological father in ways that let the reader know that she does not hold warm feelings towards him. When Dr. Anderson tries to convince her …show more content…
Though Helga describes her mother as a beautiful woman, she seems to feel that she felt burdened by her own daughter. Helga’s view of herself as a burden comes up when she is reflecting upon her childhood trip to Copenhagen, where she wonders why her mother had not let her stay, because “it seemed that it would have been the solution to all their problems, her mother’s, her stepfather’s, her own” (51). This idea progresses even further when she rejects Axel Olsen’s marriage proposal, telling him “‘We can’t tell, you know; if we were married, you might come to be ashamed of me, to hate me, to hate all dark people. My mother did that’”(82). Helga’s feeling that her mother was troubled by her, did not want her, or even hated her because of the discomfort caused by having a biracial child could certainly affect Helga’s views of her place not only within her white family, but also her place in white society while causing her own self hatred. Throughout the entirety of Quicksand, there is an obvious disconnect between Helga and whatever society she is immersed in at the moment.There are many factors that play into Helga’s struggle to claim her racial and social identity, but it seems very clear that Helga’s inability to fully connect and bond with either of her parents fully is an important factor that alienates
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