Quicksand - A Heronie's Journey Through Fashion
- It's easy to consider Nella Larsen's Quicksand as being mostly concerned with race, especially since it's a work from the famous Harlem Renaissance. Undoubtedly, race does play a central role in the novel—through Helga Crane's experiences, Larsen explores intersection of race and class as well as the idea that race isn't enough to fully define or group every individual. However, reading Quicksand as being exclusively about race risks overlooking another thing which makes the narrative unique: Helga Crane's experience as a woman. Properly analyzing everything we've read so far is obviously too large a task for just one blog post, so I've decided to delve into a detail that I found to be especially interesting. From what I've noticed so far, fashion seems to be tied interrelated with the stages of her heroine's journey. To be more specific, I'll be pairing the subtle shifts in Helga Crane's fashion with a few specific stages in Maureen...
