Nella Larsen, "Helga Crane"

Born to a white mother and an absent black father, and despised for her dark skin, Helga Crane has long had to fend for herself. As a young woman, Helga teaches at an all-black school in the South, but even here she feels different. Moving to Harlem and eventually to Denmark, she attempts to carve out a comfortable life and place for herself, but ends up back where she started, choosing emotional freedom that quickly translates into a narrow existence. Helga almost seems bipolar as her moods swing from optimistic and deliriously happy to dissatisfi ed and desperate for change. Although Helga frequently captivates men, most notably Swedish artist Axel Olsen and American academic Robert Anderson, she either loses interest in them or rejects their proposals. Despite Helga’s considerable power as a woman, she isfi ed and restless, she is constantly impelled to move on—to a new state, a new city, a new country, a new relationship—and she eventually succumbs to her own fruitless searching and lack of self-knowledge.Quicksand , Nella Larsen's first novel, has many parallels to Larsen's own autobiography and at the same time invokes the dimension of African American culture of the 1920s. It also portrays the racial and gender restrictions that can mark a life.

never able to achieve personal happiness that lasts more than a couple of years. Becoming dissatis

The is a portrayal of Helga Crane in Quicksand and about racist beliefs concerning black women’s sexuality in both literature and society. Larsen details the ways social forces can ruin an individual’s perception of herself. Helga, a biracial woman, has a dual personality and is able to see both black and white people’s perspectives about life. She struggles to find her racial identity while also trying to work through her sexual desires. Through her journey, she identifies and disproves the stereotypes concerning black women.

"Fine, thoughtful and courageous. It is, on the whole, the best piece of fiction that Negro America has produced since the heyday of [Charles] Chesnutt." (W. E. B. Du Bois)