{"product_id":"the-quest-for-a-black-female-identity-in-nella-larsens-quicksand-von-rabea-freund","title":"The Quest for a Black Female Identity in Nella Larsen's \"Quicksand\"","description":"\u003cp\u003eSeminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Seminar für Englische Philologie), course: Jazz in America, language: English, abstract: Nella Larsen¿s Quicksand was published to critical acclaim in 1928 and is said\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eto be one of the key texts of the Harlem Renaissance era. Larsen herself was of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDanish-Carribean ancestry and was highly interested in issues of racial\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eidentity, especially as they relate to being female. For that reason one should\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003enot be surprised that Quicksand focuses on the protagonist¿s struggles toward\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eselfhood, her attempts to find her place in the world as a woman who is\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003econsidered neither white nor black.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe child of a Danish mother and a black West Indian father, a socalled\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e¿mulatto¿, Helga Crane finds herself outside of the black as well as the\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewhite world, fully comfortable in neither one nor the other. During her\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eunhappy childhood she learns to regard her skin color with hatred and selfloathing,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eresulting in a deeply rooted sense of insecurity about her blackness\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand mixed heritage, which continues to be felt all her life. Internalized (white)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003estereotypes about black womens¿ promiscuous, ¿primitive¿ and immoral\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esexuality lead Helga to fear and repress her sensuality and female desires. As\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eshe detests and completely denies these emotions she is incapable of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003edeveloping an identity as a woman either.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this seminar paper I will argue that Nella Larsen¿s Quicksand is\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eabout Helga Crane¿s search for a black female identity which she will fail to\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003efind. Further, my aim is to demonstrate how intimately connected race and\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003egender oppressions are, since imposed definitions of blackness and\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewomanhood complicate Helgas search for her personal identity as a black\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewoman.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs Quicksand has a geographical symmetry to it, I will follow this\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003epattern in my analysis. It starts out in the South in Naxos where Helga works as\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ea teacher, then moves on to Chicago and Harlem, from there it shifts to\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCopenhagen, returns back to Harlem and finally ends in the deep South, in a\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etiny Alabama town, where Helgäs search ends in tragedy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"aw-variant-hidden-subtitle-div\" id=\"aw-variant-subtitle-9783668399419\"\u003e\u003ch3\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Libri","offers":[{"title":"Softcover - 9783668399419","offer_id":39436897222749,"sku":"9783668399419","price":17.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0940\/0622\/files\/36e309b5-67a9-43fa-aaa0-9ef156f56343.jpg?v=1778388484","url":"https:\/\/shop.autorenwelt.de\/products\/the-quest-for-a-black-female-identity-in-nella-larsens-quicksand-von-rabea-freund","provider":"Autorenwelt Shop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}