Category Archives: Nella Larsen

Nasturtium

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Nasturtium –

(Noun) any of a genus (Tropaeolum of the family Tropaeolaceae, the nasturtium family) of herbs of Central and South America with showy spurred flowers and pungent edible seeds and leaves.

I found this definition on https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nasturtium

i found this word in our new story Quicksand Nella  Larsen “on the shining brass bowl crowded with many-colored nasturtiums beside her on the low table, and on he low table, and on the oriental silk which covered the stool at her slim feet.“

K

Now I understand what was in her bowl. It kinda of gives us a feel of the type of person she is because she has bright colorful flowers in her house.

Zest

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Zest – (noun) –  an enjoyably exciting quality

In Chapter 1 I happened to stumble across the word zest. On page 11 paragraph 2 the word comes up in the beginning of the paragraph.

“Helga Crane had taught in Naxos for almost two years, at first with the keen joy and zest of those immature people who have dreamed dreams of doing good to their fellow men. But gradually this zest was blotted out, giving place to a deep hatred for the trivial hypocrisies and careless cruelties which were, unintentionally perhaps, a part of the Naxos policy of uplift.”

These two sentences tell me that the “immature people” used to be happy. But as time flew by the happiness went away and in place of the happiness hatred came. It seems that once that happiness was gone bad things started happening and the people changed.

Source- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zest

Ignominy

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Ignominy (noun) – deep personal humiliation and disgrace

Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ignominy

“”Oh, yes! I remember about you now. I’d forgotten for a moment. Well, he isn’t exactly your uncle, is he? Your mother wasn’t married, was she? I mean, to your father?” “I–I don’t know,” stammered the girl, feeling pushed down to the uttermost depths of ignominy.” (Larsen, pg. 61)

Helga met her Mr. Nilssen’s wife who had told Helga that Mr. Nilssen is not her uncle because her own parents were not married so there is no relation between the two. Which made her feel humiliated because she didn’t even know that her parents were not married and has shown up to Mr. Nilssen’s house for a uncle that is not her uncle.

Helga’s Relationships

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Throughout the first couple of chapters that I have read I could already see conflicts brewing due to Helga’s race. She is the daughter of a white Danish woman and a African American jazz musician. We don’t really see Helga’s father because he left her and his wife when Helga was born (might be wrong). Due to this she is a mix of both races. She has a hard time expressing her true feelings. Helga has a hard time fitting in society, she does not “feel at home” whether it’s with the black people or the white people. Even at the school that she teaches she cannot really fit in, just because she is a mixed race. In my opinion being a mixed race does not mean that you cannot fit anywhere, it should be the other way around, where you can see and live  the life of both races. Anyway, the biggest dilemma in the story would be whether or not Helga can find a place called home, without there being anyone to judge her because of her mixed race.  In Naxos she had no time to relax or rest from any thoughts ” ever since her arrival, she had striven to keep these ends of the days from the intrusion of irritating thoughts and worries”.  No matter what she does or goes, there will always be a shadow casting down upon her, reminding her that she cannot fit in any group. Although she will face these troubles, I think she will overcome and find a place that she can call home.

—- Do you think Helga will wonder aimlessly without being welcomed anywhere throughout the whole story, or will she be able to cross her racial boundary ?

 

Helga Crane and Importance of Family. Christelle.

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We can infer from the first chapter that Helga Crane is someone that lacks personal relationships in her life. There are no people in her life that she can heartily share her time, thoughts and feelings with. She doesn’t seem like she could connect with anyone around her. She certainly values companionship for it is stated in the chapter “she had wanted social background”. Her lack of love and communication with her own family accounts for her inability to be with others.

It all begins in the home. The way in which we interact with our family members (whether to be related to us or not) is what determines how we will interact with the rest of the world. In the article Factors affecting social development, it states “Children who experience the security of loving parents and have strong attachments to their parents are better able to reach out to relate to others. According to attachment theory, children who enjoy a secure attachment relationship with their parents and caregivers use this relationship as a support to venture out and explore their environment (Maccoby, 1993). Helga Crane did not achieve such confidence. There is a rift between Crane and her family. She doesn’t get along with them, as evidenced by the text “Her stepfather, her stepbrothers and sisters, and the numerous cousins, aunts, and other uncles could not have been even remotely considered. She laughed a little, scornfully, reflecting that the antagonism was mutual, or, perhaps, just a trifle keener on her side than on theirs. They feared and hated her, She pitied and despised them.” If she could not get along with the people who are supposed to unconditionally tolerate and even love her, what could she expect from the outside world?

 

Getting into Quicksand

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*** Reminder: Three of you who were supposed to post for Monday’s class are posting for Wednesday’s class instead. Please use these questions again, since we didn’t get through Chapter 7 in Monday’s discussion.***

Thank you to our five volunteers for getting us started with our discussion on Quicksand. Here are some questions to get you started thinking about the novel. If you have other ideas that you want to focus on, feel free.

Posters: remember to write approximately 300 words, use quotations to get us into the text where you are, and consider asking questions or including a statement for others to respond to.

Commenters: remember to write 2 comments, each approximately 100-150 words, responding to the ideas your classmates have generated. You can also respond to a comment. Try to include quotations so we can find what you’re referring to when we discuss the text.

* Helga and family: what is Helga’ s relationship to her own family, and how does that affect her other relationships?Her work? Her life in general? Reflect on this, using specific examples from the text.

* Helga and Naxos: Helga has strong feelings about the school, its treatment of students and faculty, its treatment of what gets referred to as the race question. Reflect on this, using specific examples from the text.

* Helga and race: in Chapter One, Helga is enraged by a white preacher who comes to address the Naxos community. He believes he is praising them, but he isn’t. Look carefully at that passage (where we ended class) and further to track Helga thoughts and feelings about this, using specific examples from the text.

* Other topics you might consider in relation to Helga: work, travel, love/marriage, art, beauty, appear.

Eerily

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Adverb

Eerily –  so mysterious, strange, or unexpected as to send a chill up the spine

sources : https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eerily

I have encountered this word while reading “Quicksand” by Nella Larsen. You can locate this word on page one, at the bottom of the page. When the narrator said “So large that the spot where Helga sat was a small oasis in a dessert of darkness. And Eerily quiet.” The word was interesting because it was used in such a short sentences to describe what the atmosphere was like when reading it. After understanding what this word means I think that the narrator was describing where Helga was sitting, and what it felted like, as the “shadowy”, and a large spot of lights, making the atmosphere very mysterious, and gloomy. Its atmosphere was very strange and frightening, also another word that would describe it would be emptiness.

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Introducing Helga Crane

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What do we know about Helga Crane?

  • likes nice stuff
  • likes exotic things? foreign? imports?
  • reads books
  • alone–>lonely?
  • chooses gloom, low light
  • as a teacher: enjoys it, gives “willingly and unsparingly”–but it’s taxing
  • forced isolation: doesn’t open her door to other teachers
  • 22 years old
  • blue-black hair, “skin like yellow satin” : attractive
  • is she crafting her appearance in a detailed way?

What do we know about the world she lives in?

  • her room is filled with her nice things
  • lots of books
  • she has a large room amid other people’s rooms
  • “soft gloom”
  • in the South
  • she’s in a metaphorical desert: big shift from day to night
  • her coworkers are unkind and gossipy
  • she’s insignificant in the huge institution
  • she lives on campus where other teachers live

Tapestry

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  1. Tapestry -( noun) a heavy handwoven reversible textile used for hangings, curtains, and upholstery and characterized by complicated pictorial designs

i found this definition on https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tapestry

I found this word in our new book Quicksand by Nella Larsen “In vivid green and gold negligee and glistening brocaded mules, deep sunk in the big high-backed chair, against whose dark tapestry her sharply cut face, with skin like yellow satin, was distinctly outlined she was—to use a hackneyed word—attractive.”

now I have a visual and a better understanding of tapestry. It can be considered a design that is put on your wall like a curtain and it has details and designs all over

K

Nasturtiums

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Nasturtiums (noun) – any of a genus (Tropaeolum of the family Tropaeolaceae, the nasturtium family) of herbs of Central and South America with showy spurred flowers and pungent edible seeds and leaves.

Source – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nasturtium

In “Quicksand”, “Only a single reading lamp, dimmed by a great black and red shade, made by pool of light on the blue Chinese carpet, on the bright covers of the books which she had taken down from their long shelves, on the white pages of the opened one selected, on the shining brass bowl crowded with many-colored nasturtiums beside her on the low table, and on the oriental silk which covered the stool at her slim feet.” (Larsen, pg 35)

I now understand that the author is trying to set a seen with the description of the nasturtiums, which are colorful flowers that can be red, yellow, and white. These flowers are next to Helga Crane as she sits around a table.

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