In the reading Quicksand by Nella Larsen, the main character, Helga Crane, comes to different revelations. Based on her experiences, she develops news ideas about herself. This can be seen early in the story when she decides to no longer teach at the Negro College Naxos. The narrator places her in a setting where she is in her room relaxing from a stressful day of work. As she fails to not think of work and school, she reflects on how she feels working at the college compared to how she felt when she first started. The narrator gives a brief background of when Helga started working. Helga had high regards for the establishment. She wanted to be a part of the Negro education. The author expresses on page 365 “Helga Crane had taught in Naxos for almost two years, at first with the keen joy and zest of those immature people…this zest was blotted out…”. Helga use to be have a passion and joy for teaching at a Negro College until she learned the truth about the establishment. She wasn’t effective of really teaching her students because of the methods of teaching that was used in the school. There was no practice of individualism or expressing thoughts and ideas. Helga thought that this institution was a place to teach black students to conform to the “white” way of thinking. This discovery frustrated her. What made her more unhappy was her inability to assimilate the way the rest of the staff and students did. She was disappointed by how the college ran, insulted by the white preacher’s words to at the assembly, and most of all, angered by the way everything was accepted. It seemed as if no one but her felt that their methods of teaching was wrong, and felt like she was frowned upon because she was the only one who felt this way. All of this drove her to quit teaching there and end the relationships she formed while at the college.
Intro to Women Writers-Hybrid Sp 2014
Writing Women of the Long 20th Century
I agree that negative aspects she saw at Naxos drove her to the point of no return. I think that we can all agree that sometimes we have a pretty pictured painted in our minds about what a particular experience will turn out to be, only later to have reality dash those ideals. I think Helga reacted to strongly because she felt it was an injustice to the students she wanted to be able to express themselves, that they were being told to stay in their place and not to lead or go further.
It’s interesting to think about how Helga’s biracial experience made her be able to see how the school was being oppressive towards Afro-American ideals. She didn’t partake in that vision, and it made hard for her to continue teaching at Naxos. She didn’t belong there.