Quicksand By Nella Larsen Analysis

Nella Larsen was a writer during the Harlem Renaissance movement. She wanted to uncover the truth about the mistreatment of bi-racial women during that particular time. Quicksand is a story about a bi-racial girl seeking to matter during the Harlem Renaissance. Helga Crane is a half black half white educated woman. The story opens with Helga’s disappointment with her own life. She’s a teacher in school but she is not happy with the traditions of the school. She makes the decision to leave and start new but her white uncle’s wife refused to share a roof with her. Now, she’s facing a life she has never thought about. Struggling with her past, a white mother who was abandoned by her father and then moving on and marrying another white man who …show more content…
The story revolves around two light-skinned black women, Irene Redfield and her childhood friend Clare Kendry. Both the women are pretty light skinned and can “pass” for white. The term “passing” refers to a light-skinned African – American acting as white people to take part in the social affairs otherwise denied to them. Irene Redfield is married to a black man and passes only when it’s convenient and when she is away from family. Clare, on the other hand is completely opposite. She takes it to a new extreme. She is married to racist white man and lives exclusively as a white woman. There’s a third character, Gertrude, who remains neutral between the two cultures: she has married a white man but he knows and accepts her black heritage. The novel revolves around the different ways of juggling the two cultures.
In Passing, Nella Larsen has painted a very vivid picture of the black community living in Chicago. She dauntlessly challenges: race, sex, gender, class. This novel was filled with important questions about belonging, identity and loyalty. Though these questions were not exactly answered, they lingered and made me think long after I put the book down. For me that’s a sign of a good