Nella Larsen

Nella Larsen's novel Quicksand follows the protagonist, Helga, as she tries to find out who she is. Helga is a biracial woman who did not feel comfortable with where is, so she is constantly moving from place to place in order to find a place where she feels that she belongs. Helga had constantly moved to find happiness. Although many readers seem to dislike Helga at first glance because she is reckless, there are two examples that show that she is actually not so irresponsible because she had acted

Nella Larsen explores the complexity of the black female identity through her characterization of Clare Kendry. Initially, readers immediately find it repulsive that Clare chooses to pass as white women for materialistic gain. However, Larsen provides readers a first glimpse of Clare’s childhood as she “[sat] on a ragged blue sofa, sewing pieces of bright red cloth together, while her drunken father… raged threateningly up and down the shabby room” (Larsen 9). Despite the glamor of Clare’s current

it comes to understanding the meaning of space there isn’t just only one way of doing so. Were able to discover this through the different author 's stories, and poems we’ve read. The stories that I will look into for this paper are “Passing” by Nella Larsen and “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In both the stories the character 's use these open spaces to hide in and conceal the things important to them. What does it mean to hide? It means to prevent something from being seen. Putting

Nella Larsen and Chester Himes both published novels in the first half of the twentieth century that deal with “Black” characters passing for “white.” Particularly because the race of some characters is fairly ambiguous in Larsen’s novel, members of the “Black race” as defined here will include those with any known Black ancestry. Therefore “race” is being defined with respect to the “one-drop” rule, which dictates that any small presence of African ancestry requires individuals to be granted a hypo-descendent

The Effects of Audience on Writing: Nella Larsen’s Choices in Passing and Their Effect Many authors, in both general literature and Black artists alike have many questions when crafting their arguments and stories. Why am I writing this? What am I hoping to accomplish from writing? And most importantly, Who am I writing for? When it comes down to who a writer’s intended audience is, it comes across as one of the most vital questions one can ask. With audience choice comes a plethora of other choice

Ashlynn Reiter Women’s Lit March 25, 2016 ​​​​Nella Larsen and Intersectional Feminism This essay will explore the relation between feminism and how it corresponds with race. ​Clare, an African American character in Nella Larsen’s Passing, referred to a comment made by her racist white husband, saying that “everything must be paid for” (Larsen, 71). Throughout the book, this comment was especially poignant in terms of passing. Crossing the color-line has always been risky. Passing, explores many

specifics of Nella Larsen’s upbringing, including her family history. The author gives readers additional insight into Larsen’s work by providing information about her personal life, as well as discussing how her work was culturally received in her day (often negatively). The writer also includes his opinion on Larsen’s illustrious success and reputation; unlike other authors, her life was not completely centered around her writing. Nella went to medical school and later worked as a nurse. Larsen completed

In 1929, Nella Larsen made the term ‘passing’ a tangible phenomenon through her seminal novel Passing. Larsen, an African American woman living in Harlem, details the societal pressure and perhaps even necessity for minorities to ‘pass’ as a member of the majority. The genesis of this social pressure is rooted in the history of the lighter-skinned African American population, but it is a force that almost all minorities have encountered in some form. Passing, while tempting, is ultimately detrimental

Through their individual works, Nella Larsen and Ralph Ellison both work to approach and refute commonplace understandings of “blackness”, while also highlighting the social constructs which facilitate its existence. In Ellison’s Invisible Man, the character himself is fully aware of his societal invisibility as a black man, manipulating it to his own advantage. In stating, “it is sometimes advantageous to be unseen, although it is most often rather wearing on the nerves,” the reader becomes aware

as feminine as intuition and emotional connection. She values and uses all her gifts” This quote by Nancy Rathburn states that women should utilize their inborn characteristics to elevate themselves in society. Two short stories, “Sanctuary” by Nella Larsen and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman closely relate to the quote said by Rathburn, focusing on the importance of being decisive. In both stories, the difference of each characters’ traits is demonstrated by how they can make decisions