ipl-logo

Summary Of Closure Of Quicksand By Nella Larsen

1746 Words7 Pages

The Decline of Helga Crane- Exploring Nella Larsen’s Closure of Quicksand.

Nella Larsen’s Quicksand follows the story of a ‘tragic mulatta’, Helga Crane. Helga Crane embarks on an exhaustive physical and psychological journey throughout the text, Quicksand. As the text concludes the reader yearns for closure. However, Quicksand’s ending ultimately results in the metaphorical suffocation of Helga Crane, leaving the reader disappointed and unfulfilled. The melancholy, unsatisfied feelings evoked from Quicksand’s closure strongly suit the text as a whole and reflect Helga’s life experiences as a misfit.
The opening statements of Quicksand paint a dull and depressing picture of Helga Crane, a school teacher whose dreams of positively impacting …show more content…

***HE’S ABOUT AS ORDAINED AS TRENEATA*** In a sense, Reverend Pleasant Green is the first person that makes Helga feel accepted. Helga seduces the Reverend and eventually marries him. At first, the idea of marriage to the Reverend entices Helga, hoping that a new life in the south will be a fresh start and will make her happy. It is soon discovered that the reasons for Helga’s unhappiness are much deeper than being single. At first, Helga “did not hate him, the town, or the people” (Larsen 622) but soon after Helga remains unfulfilled. Helga is once again cast to the roll of local misfit. This time, she is married to a black preacher but it is clear that this role is not suited to Helga. She is outcast by her lack of previous experience with religion and does not know how to behave as a pastor’s wife. Her menial skills cause her to once again return to a place where she feels …show more content…

Instead of celebrating the joy of life that she has created, she claims that “the children used her up” (Larsen 625). Helga progresses on her journey as a character whom sadness comes much more naturally to than the happiness of even monumental life events. Helga slips further into tragedy, losing her sense of passion, desire and will to survive. Reverend Green begins to notice how “his children [are] unwashed, and his wife [is] untidy” (Larsen 625), which results in his ever-fading presence. As Helga’s husband become more and more infrequently home she realizes that life as a house wife and mother is not the fulfillment she hoped it to be. Helga must “bring herself back to the present with conscious effort” (Lackey 105) in order participate in even the smallest of daily tasks. Unfortunately, motherhood becomes just another aspect of Helga’s life that she does not fit in

Show More
Related
123 Words | 1 Pages

Hulga appreciates Mrs. Freeman because she helps her distinguish a more realistic view life and the world, rather than following the same old good Christian

Read More
1359 Words | 6 Pages

(4) This quote elaborates how she’s never danced or done normal fun activities throughout her childhood and now adulthood. This excerpt also shows how Mrs. Hopewell can’t help but look at Hulga with pity, knowing that her wooden leg causes her the misfortune of never having a normal life. To combat this sense of pity and rejection from individuals, Hulga developed a “reject them before they reject me” ideal. This was created to protect herself from the constant rejection she faced and explains why she is always psychoanalyzing others; To try and find flaws in them before they find flaws in her. Hulga is missing a childhood filled with happiness and normality, a life past 45 years old, basic social interactions, and relationships with others who she

Read More
763 Words | 4 Pages

Mastery Assignment 2: Literary Analysis Essay Lee Maracle’s “Charlie” goes through multiple shifts in mood over the course of the story. These mood are ones of hope and excitement as Charlie and his classmates escape the residential school to fear of the unknown and melancholy as Charlie sets off alone for home ending with despair and insidiousness when Charlie finally succumbs to the elements . Lee highlights these shifts in mood with the use of imagery and symbolism in her descriptions of nature.

Read More
825 Words | 4 Pages

It is common for people in everyday society to conform to society’s expectations while also questioning their true desires. In the novel, The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, the main protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess, "That outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions." In other words, Edna outwardly conforms while questioning inwardly. Kate Chopin, uses this tension between outward conformity and inward questioning to build the meaning of the novel by examining Edna’s role as a wife, mother, and as nontraditional woman in the traditional Victorian period. Edna outwardly conforms to society’s expectations by marriage.

Read More
309 Words | 2 Pages

Helga Crane struggles with numerous forces, which include class and racial stereotypes, social expectations, and emotional baggage. The following article exploits her biggest struggle and the circumstances that would have made her more successful in pursuing happiness. Helga Crane’s biggest obstacle is her emotional baggage (Larsen). Her lack of self-awareness, appreciation, integrity and gratifications for herself, and her life results from emotional baggage. Helga’s constant pursuit of leisure, attention, and beautiful surrounding, is as a result of her emotional struggles.

Read More
1266 Words | 6 Pages

Within the past year, the treatment and perceptions of women have been challenged due to the various marches and movements. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s romance, The Scarlet Letter, presents how women were viewed in a Puritan society, falling into a rigid dichotomy of either being the “saint” or “sinner.” This is otherwise known as the “Madonna/Whore complex,” which is explored through the life of the novel’s protagonist, Hyster Prynne. Her struggles and experiences through this dichotomy ultimately affect her both physically and emotionally as it represses her femininity.

Read More
1515 Words | 7 Pages

On July 18, 1964, The New Yorker published a short story entitled “The Swimmer” (Wilhite 215). Edited thoroughly and heavily compacted from its original form, “The Swimmer” represents John Cheever 's most acclaimed and recognized work. The protagonist of the famous and momentous short story, Neddy Merrill, undergoes a watery journey of self-exploration, acceptance, and tragedy while swimming in various pools as he makes his way home from a party. Slyly and allegorically, the short story dramatically demonstrates the possible density of the literary technique called characterization. Containing many cliffhangers open to the reader 's individual self-interpretation, the short story effectively uses the strong power of language to illuminate

Read More
871 Words | 4 Pages

The American science fiction and fantasy author Richard Grant once said that “the value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose.” In both The Awakening by Kate Chopin and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the main protagonists search for their identities through the context of their daily lives. In correlation with the preceding quotation, in The Awakening, after a vacation opens her eyes to all that she has been missing in her life, she becomes desperate to find herself outside of the mother-woman while in The Handmaid’s Tale, the narrator must decide which parts of her identity she wants to hold on to and who she is in the trying times of the Gileadean society. The two novels demonstrate the journey of these women

Read More
1072 Words | 5 Pages

The Wilderness of Death Summer camp is supposed to be a sunny, adventurous and fun time in a child's life, but not in Margaret Atwood's, Death By Landscape. Atwood tells a story of a women, Lois, that experiences the tragic loss of her best friend, Lucy, as a young girl. The story goes on to tell the effects the tragic disappearance had on Lois. In order to illustrate Lois’ symbolic death, Atwood uses the motif of landscapes as well as comparisons and imagery.

Read More
708 Words | 3 Pages

In her poem, “Crossing the Swamp,” Mary Oliver uses vivid diction, symbolism, and a tonal shift to illustrate the speaker’s struggle and triumph while trekking through the swamp; by demonstrating the speaker’s endeavors and eventual victory over nature, Oliver conveys the beauty of the triumph over life’s obstacles, developing the theme of the necessity of struggle to experience success. Oliver uses descriptive diction throughout her poem to vividly display the obstacles presented by the swamp to the reader, creating a dreary, almost hopeless mood that will greatly contrast the optimistic tone towards the end of the piece. While describing the thicket of swamp, Oliver uses world like “dense,” “dark,” and “belching,” equating the swamp to “slack earthsoup.” This diction develops Oliver’s dark and depressing tone, conveying the hopelessness the speaker feels at this point in his journey due to the obstacles within the swamp. As the speaker eventually overcomes these obstacles, he begins to use words like “sprout,” and “bud,” alluding to new begins and bright futures.

Read More
1273 Words | 6 Pages

Anne Fadiman’s “Under Water” strikingly relates a particularly morbid, yet surreal experience: the death of a teen, Gary, in a freak canoeing accident. From writing about this particular incident, Fadiman reflects her own development and maturation as a person, from an “impatient” person to one who is “no longer in a hurry.” However, in a more general sense, the essay also deals with how people react to death. In the seventh paragraph of “Under Water,” Fadiman’s use of personification and the use of a metaphor describing the body of Gary highlights how individuals insistently attempt to detach themselves from death, refusing to accept the truth of the situation, ultimately damaging themselves in the process.

Read More
937 Words | 4 Pages

A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove The novel ‘A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove’ by the author, James Maloney, is a story about the protagonist named Carl Matt, who faces many issues and tribulations as a teenager. The protagonist is left with the responsibility of his younger brother, while also managing insecurities of his own, regarding body image, love, and neglect. Maloney demonstrates the following themes, by using his protagonist as the victim of some of the modern issues facing today’s society. Throughout the novel, Maloney explores the ongoing issue of body image.

Read More
279 Words | 2 Pages

Ray Bradbury never seems to doubt his themes, or the way he presents them. From his first publication in the mid-1900’s to now he does not appear to falter. The same holds true for his short stories. In “Embroidery”, Ray Bradbury conveys a grim, bipolar ending to three women using symbolism, emphasis, appeal to emotion, and vivid descriptions. Bradbury’s style is very distinct and noticeable in all his works.

Read More
1844 Words | 8 Pages

The Sirens of Wildwood Falls When Alex Smith noticed his 13-year-old brother, Chris, slip off the rocks above Wildwood Falls he knew there was only one thing to do. Without hesitation, the 16-year-old boy ran to the edge of the rocks, where the current of the Row River was pulling his younger brother towards the nearby waterfalls. He extended his reach as far as he could to save his brother, and was unable to grab him. Leaving the safety of the rocky shore, he jump in, hoping to pull his brother to safety. Wildwood Falls, located near Cottage Grove, Oregon, is a local favorite for cooling off on a hot summer day.

Read More
1786 Words | 8 Pages

Rita Felski’s view of tragedy being the failure “to master the self and the world” is at the heart of Nella Larsen’s Quicksand and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Both texts are concerned with the incapacity of defining and accepting one’s identity and the characters’ attempts to resolve this identity crisis by isolating themselves. This essay will argue that the fundamental cause for this tragedy is the lack of emotional connection from one’s family, which in turn prohibits one to sympathize with anyone, including oneself. In Quicksand, Helga Crane’s inability to become truly happy stems from her feelings of being an outsider.

Read More

More about Summary Of Closure Of Quicksand By Nella Larsen

Related Topics

Open Document