Quicksand Assignment

From earlier class discussions, we know that Nella Larsen's Quicksand was part of the larger literary outpouring of the Harlem Renaissance. Centered around the themes of African American and mixed race identity, agency, position, and voice, protagonist Helga Crane travels from place-to-place, trying on different facets of self, while searching for a sense of belonging, stability, and wholeness. Does she find what she seeks?

I have created a glog representing one aspect of Helga's quest, that includes some of my own questions on the text. Study the glog, considering my comments and some of the following:

While Helga's place as a mixed race/black woman in American society is de-stabilizing, and limiting, she seems to have more freedom of movement than some other characters in the text, but is this enough? How does this help or hinder her on her journey? Given the story's ending, how can we view the "opportunities" available to her?

How does Helga express herself? How does she not? Are her means of expression enough to facilitate agency? In other words, does she own who she is (or seems to be) and the decisions she makes?

Present in the text is a constant tension between self-definition and imposed identity, true self and constructed self. Does Helga find herself or create herself (think about this one a little)? What would be the difference, and does it matter? What about the identities that are imposed upon her, how and why does she find them fulfilling, and how and why do they fall short? What do these impositions suggest about the larger themes in the text?

As a reader, are you satisfied with Helga as a character? How do you feel about the story's ending?

Assignment:

After you have studied my glog and thought things through a bit, choose one of the following:

A. Create your own glog and tell Helga's story. You must explore and include at least one of the over-arching themes of the text (agency, identity, voice, and place for mixed race/black women). Be creative! Cast Helga in a modern frame, if you find it relevant, and show me how and why it is so.

B. Go to our class web site [I will have one that is not Blackboard or iLearn], and write the equivalent of a page or two answering some of the questions I've asked, or scholarly questions of your own. I want you to explore ideas comfortably, but also grammatically (free-writish, but be thoughtful of staying focused and trying to write as clearly and concisely as possible).