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Chapter 11
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Quicksand, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Race, Segregation, and Society
Mixed-Race Identity
Racial Shame and Emotional Repression
Race, Beauty, and Exoticism
Religion, Poverty, and Oppression
Summary
Analysis
Helga feels no regret as the coastline recedes out of view. She is happy to be away from the community in Harlem, where she didn’t belong. Helga finds the boat journey delightful, and enjoys the attention from the “curious glances of turquoise eyes,” as snatches of forgotten Danish from her childhood start to return to her mind. Helga feels happy and free in the feeling of belonging to herself, and not to a race. The only thing troubling Helga is the vivid image of Dr. Anderson. She wonders if she’s in love with him, but is immediately humiliated by the thought and dismisses it as “Sheer nonsense!” Nonetheless, Helga can’t quite shift the image of Dr. Anderson’s “serious smile and gravely musical voice” from the crevices of her mind.
The “curious glances of turquoise eyes” indicate that Helga is probably the only person of color on the boat. On the ocean, Helga is between her black father’s homeland and her white mother’s homeland, and feels at home here: in the space between these two worlds (and races). Helga continues to repress her feelings for Dr. Anderson by dismissing them as “nonsense.” Larsen offers another description of Dr. Anderson with positive imagery that connotes his beauty as a person of color.
Themes
As the boat approaches Copenhagen, Helga starts to feel fearful and apprehensive, worried that her Fru Dahl’s new husband might be like Mrs. Nilssen. Suddenly, Helga wishes she was back in New York. As she disembarks the ship, she is unsure what to do. Almost immediately, however, she notices her well-dressed aunt—who looks just like her mother—coming toward her, and feels relieved. Her aunt’s new husband, Herr Dahl, is following behind her and they all greet each other warmly. As they pass through customs and get into a cab, Helga begins her new life.
Helga’s fear of a bad confrontation triggers her usual reaction of wanting to flee, except she can’t as she’s on a boat. Helga’s acknowledgment of how much Fru Dahl looks like Helga’s mother shows that she is reconnecting with this side of her identity, and is optimistic about being embraced as a Danish person herself. Larsen will soon show that this is not to be the case.
Themes
