Throughout her journeys it can be seen that Helga’s struggle to find happiness as an intellectual biracial woman living in the early 1900’s is a futile effort for her. The first example in which this futility is apparent is reflected by her discontent in Naxos. From the very beginning in Naxos, it is apparent that Helga is in “quicksand” because she is in a place of discontent, but more specifically discontent caused by issues of her racial identity as an African American and by issues of her desire to freely express her educated intellect. Practically speaking, the “quicksand” of Naxos is also difficult for her to escape because she does not have a stable alternative to turn to. In Naxos, Helga is unsure of the exact definition of “happiness” as is reflected by her thoughts early in chapter two, but she knows for certain that she is unhappy there because the people are not accepting of her and they are repressive of African American self-expression. This repression and the teachings of the school to “fit the white man’s pattern” do not agree with Helga’s expressive intellect (Larsen, 8). Therefore she resolves to leave this place of racial and intellectual repression and return to Chicago only to find that this effort has led her deeper into the quicksand that she struggled to free herself from. Chicago’s racist views towards her African American side causes her to struggle yet again to escape, and so she takes the first chance she gets to go to Harlem, a place that she hopes will pull her free from the quicksand of unhappiness.

In Harlem, the futility of Helga’s efforts is realized once again. Initially Helga believes that she has found what she was searching for as she states, “Harlem, teeming black Harlem, had welcomed her and lulled her into something that was, she was certain, peace and contentment” (46). But the fact that she specifically states that “black” Harlem had welcomed her immediately suggests that the African Americans there had welcomed her as a dark skinned person but they may not welcome the European, Caucasian side of her, which is later shown to be the case. Helga also states in chapter eight that, “Any shreds of self-consciousness or apprehension which at first she may have felt vanished quickly, escaped in the keenness of her joy at seeming at last to belong somewhere. For she considered that she had, as she put it, ‘found herself’” (46). This also shows that she initially seems happy but the way she says, “seeming” and “found herself” imply that she was not sure if she felt like she belonged and that her definition of herself in Harlem was that of an African American only, which is clearly not the case. In later chapters it becomes evident that Helga is in fact not happy in Harlem specifically because of the African Americans’ hatred towards the “white” people of whom she is related to by fifty percent. In Harlem, she is unable to express the “white” side of her as is suggested by Mrs. Hayes-Rore’s quote of, “…I wouldn’t mention that my people are white, if I were you…” and Anne Grey’s vehement protests towards the white race (44). Thus Helga’s perceived happiness of being fully accepted in “teeming black Harlem” is shattered because her other half is not accepted, and so her struggle to find happiness proves fruitless in Harlem.

Helga’s search for happiness next takes her to Copenhagen, Denmark. Here, too, Helga thinks that she has finally found and procured her definition of happiness but once again she is disappointed. Although she is fully accepted here as a biracial woman as well as receiving many material possessions, she later finds that her biracial origin is once again the ultimate cause of conflict. It is mentioned in chapter thirteen that her aunt was a “woman who left nothing to chance. In her own mind she had determined the role that Helga was to play in advancing the social fortunes of the Dahls of Copenhagen, and she meant to begin at once” (70). So it is revealed that Helga’s aunt is simply using her and the fact that she appears dark skinned and exotic to lure the artist, Axel Olsen, whom her aunt is fully confident will “fall” for Helga. Also, in chapter fourteen it is stated that Helga’s new life in Copenhagen “conveyed to Helga her exact status in her new environment. A decoration. A curio. A peacock” (75). So she felt that she was being displayed just because of her dark skin and that this was all that the people of Denmark were interested in about her, which is not in accordance with her intellect even if it is in accordance with her vanity. She eventually begins to miss her fellow “Negroes” and her African American side as can be seen by her statement that “as she attended parties, the theater, the opera, and mingled with people on the streets, meeting only pale serious faces when she longed for brown laughing ones…” (94). On top of this, she refuses to marry Axel Olsen and thus greatly disappoints her aunt and uncle who now have no use for her. So her experiences in Denmark also show the futility of her efforts to find happiness and acceptance as an intellectual biracial woman.

The last pages of the story portray the protagonist’s final submission to the fact that she will not be able to find “happiness.” Up to this point, Helga had been around many places in her search for “happiness,” which is redefined by Helga time and again as she discovers in each situation that she has failed to obtain it. Near the end, Helga believes that she has found what she was looking for in life by marrying a reverend, finding religion, and giving birth to her own children. In the end however, she realizes that she hates her husband, there is no God, and that raising many children is too difficult for her. Helga decides that she must escape from this situation but at the same time she is aware that she cannot abandon her children and just up and leave. She hopes to get strong and “work out some arrangement” to leave but in the last paragraph it is revealed that she has conceived yet again (136). It can be seen by this most recent event that she has given up on her search for happiness and has realized how futile her efforts have been. It is also finalized that she is in too deep and that she cannot escape because she is further tied down by the weight of her numerous children. If she were still fighting to find happiness she would never have let her last conception take place.

From all of her struggles and efforts to find and obtain her definition of happiness as an educated biracial woman, Helga’s journeys and life experiences can be related to the relentless pull of quicksand. After her travels in America and Europe, and settling down to have children, Helga discovers that she always ends up unhappy and that she cannot escape the quicksand of unhappiness. Her struggles seem to be in vain because all her attempts to escape this quicksand seem pull her right back to where she started. By marrying and giving birth to children, she only puts herself deeper into the quicksand because she cannot escape and abandon her children as her father once did. She asks herself, “Why couldn’t she have two lives, or why couldn’t she be satisfied in one place?” (95). As can be seen through her efforts neither option is possible for her as an intellectual biracial woman, in her time period, and thus her struggles to escape the quicksand of unhappiness inevitably prove to be futile.  

  Copyright 2003 Eun Kook Kim
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