Examples Of Cosmopolitanism In Quicksand

Within Hanna Musoil's work, "Cosmopolitan Intimacies in Nella Larsen's Quicksand," the reader will find her opinion primarily centered around the idea of cosmopolitanism in Quicksand. Cosmopolitanism, in political theory, means "the belief that all people are entitled to equal respect and consideration, no matter what their citizenship status or other affiliations happen to be," according to Britannica. To take this term into Quicksand, one must understand the geopolitical circumstances of the 20th century. To understand these social circumstances, the critic draws from author Nella Larsen's actual life as a mixed-race woman like Helga, her experiences, and their influence on Helga Crane and her story. Musoil argues that Larsen uses critical

As explained by the author, this trope has to do a significant amount with images, especially ones of contradiction. These contradictory images are that of Helga, as the subject, which is meant to be seen, and that of the objectification she faces. Moreover, Laren utilizes, on multiple occasions, diction and imagery that point to an exoticized Helga, such as "blue Chinese carpet," "black and red shade," and "oriental silk," (Sherrard-Johnson 252). Here, Larsen describes Helga's beauty with an oriental undertone, which in turn signals the exotification of her as a "mulatta” woman. To describe her beauty in this way, Larsen successfully employs both these contradictory images as it displays Helga as this beautiful and unique woman. In turn, she also objectifies and exotifies her by reducing her to simply her looks. This representation of Helga provides insight into primitivism during the Harlem Renaissance. This, in turn, again helps the reader understand its relation to the modernist

Quicksand, as an early 20th-century novel, fits into the modernist movement both in the context it was written as well as the themes and contents of the work. In tune with Musiol's cosmopolitan lens, this notion of breaking from the past and searching for the future of expression can be seen in Helga's forging her path throughout the work. When she is uninspired and feels unbelonging by Naxos, she decides to leave and search for new ways to express herself, which is a modernist journey. She continues to move around to find herself and her identity until she can search no more when she becomes trapped in motherhood. Larsen portrays Helga as the modernist subject, displaying the tragedy of this movement for a woman like her. Moreover, in Sherrard-Johnson's work, modernism can also be seen in this seemingly new identity of the mulatta woman. This critic draws from modernism in the way that the objectification and the exotification of Helga, especially while in Denmark, while ignorant to her as a person, also points to the uniqueness of her as a subject; but Larsen also displays the modernist tragedy of losing that identity when she loses her "otherness" after marrying and setting down with the Reverend. The paradox in this situation is that while Helga has found a place where she is wholly accepted, she