At the beginning of the novel Quicksand by Nella Larsen starts with a sentence that would anticipate both the plot and characterization of the novel. The protagonist Helga Crane two year old, an unhappy teacher. Helga a mixed race, her mother was white and her father was black. It seems as a child she was a very lonely person. She has not been able to identify herself as either white or black. Helga is a teacher at Naxos, a wealthy boarding school in the South that educates black children. Helga becomes extremely frustrated with the school’s segregationist race politics.

“… if all Negroes would only take a leaf out of the book of Naxos and conduct themselves in the manner of the Naxos products there would be no race problem, because Naxos Negroes knew what was expected of them. They had good sense and they had good taste. They knew enough to stay in their places, and that, said the preacher, showed good taste. He spoke of his great admiration for the Negro race, no other race in so short a time had made so much progress, but he had urgently besought them to know when and where to stop.” (p. 5-6 )  The white minister tells them that if all black people knew their place like the black people on Naxos, there would be no problems.  This is an example of how judgmental the whites were against the blacks.  Helga is upset and vows to leave Naxos. This shows Helga’s frustration towards the school of segregationist race politics.

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In the novel Quicksand by Nella Larsen, the main character is Helga Crane. She is a 23 year-old teacher at a well renowned school in the south for black people. Helga had been teaching there for about 2 years. She had been slowly growing weary of that school, but at this point she reached her limit. The story opened with her desire for silence and solitude, because that day had been horrendous for her. Helga had to sit through a prideful speech made by a white preacher, who made offensive remarks toward black people. This was her breaking point, as seen in this passage, “Sitting there in her room, long hours after, Helga again felt a surge of hot anger and seething resentment. And again it subsided in amazement at the memory of the consider-able applause which had greeted the speaker just before he had asked his God’s blessing upon them. The South. Naxos. Negro education. Suddenly she hated them all.” (6-7)

After hearing those insulting remarks the preacher made to the black students and faculty of Naxos, everyone else applauded. Their acceptance of his words angered Helga greatly. She decided after sitting all night and thinking in her room that she would leave Naxos as soon as possible. She went into the school thinking that this school was a great opportunity for the black race and she wanted to be a part of it. Finally, however, she realized that this school brings no advancement to her race, and may even be oppressing them further. After realizing that she lacks money to travel and the timing is not beneficial to her career, she starts thinking of putting off the departure until the end of the semester in June. This decision weighs on her because she desperately wants to leave. In the end she decides to speak to the principal at least to notify him about her plans. He succeeded for a short while in coaxing her to stay and be a part of the cause to change the school for the better. This lasted a short while, for in the end she told him that she would leave that same afternoon. Helga was in a battle of heart and mind, desire and reason.  She wished to flee but was caught up in realistic obstacles. In the end she made up her mind to go along with her desires.

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