66 pages • 2 hours read
Nella LarsenQuicksand
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1928A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 12-14Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 12 Summary
Helga watches Manhattan retreat as the ocean liner leaves the city en route to Copenhagen. She recalls that she never felt that she belonged in New York, and that her effort to escape from her “inherent aloneness” (63) led to an aversion to people around her. She anticipates dinner apprehensively, but is treated with kindness by the ship’s purser, who recalls her from the trip that she had taken with her mother. All of the guests at the dinner table are polite and friendly, and she starts to speak to them in Danish, which she learned as a child.
She experiences a great sense of freedom on the ship, of “belonging to herself alone and not to a race” (64). Her sole source of discontent are her memories of Dr. Anderson at the cabaret. She wonders whether she is in love with him but discounts the possibility.Her sense is that “When one is in love, one strives to please” (64). The ship arrives in Copenhagen in early morning, and Helga wonders whether her aunt will be there to greet her. Katrina, who resembles Helga’s mother quite closely, is waiting at the dock with her husband, Herr Dahl. They welcome Helga graciously and affectionately, and have arranged for English-speaking friends to accompany them, in the event that Helga has forgotten how to speak Danish. Helga experiences a sense of hope and happiness as she begins a new life in Copenhagen.
Chapter 13 Summary
Helga is quite happy with life in the home of Aunt Katrina and Herr Dahl, whose elegantly-furnished surroundings satisfy her need for beauty and luxury. She is sure that she belongs in Copenhagen, and feels “consoled at last for the spiritual wounds of the past” (67).
Katrina advises Helga that they will be going out for tea and hosting a dinner party that day, and starts to evaluate Helga’s wardrobe. She counsels Helga to wear a bright-colored dress to “set off the color of your lovely brown skin” (68), and has planned that Helga will help to elevate the family’s position in Copenhagen society. Despite her love of bright colors, Helga resents Katrina’s overriding her own good taste in clothes. When Helga appears in her gown, her uncle arranges the purchase of earrings and bracelets from a local jeweler to accent her outfit. The young woman feels uncomfortable due to local residents staring at her on the street, and whispering the word sorte, which means “black” in Danish.
Despite her misgivings, Helga enjoys admiration of the guests when she is introduced by her Uncle Poul. Toward the end of the evening, a tall, blond man wearing a cape enters the party and gazes at her intensely. Helga later finds that this person is, Herr Olsen, is a painter, and has arranged with Helga’s uncle to paint Helga’s portrait. Helga sees a great irony in the fact that she has not been consulted about this and that arrangements are being made without her consent. She is losing her autonomy after a lifetime of self-sufficiency. She ends the evening happily, and notes that her mixed-race lineage is actually an asset in Denmark.
Chapter 14 Summary
Axel Olsen has made arrangements with Herr Dahl to paint Helga’s portrait, and Helgais never consulted. Her aunt suggests and pays for bright, expensive, new clothes for her; Helga comes to realize that it is her function to make a good impression in society for the Dahls. She enjoys her new, popular status, and becomes accustomed to extravagance. The Danish mentality advocating “To each his own milieu” (75) contrasts with her sense of the American Negro mentality, which Helga feels aimed at imitating their “white overlords” (74). Helga determines that she will never return to America.
She enjoys the history and prosperity of Copenhagen, exploring the city with others and, eventually, on her own. She also enjoys the round of sparkling dinner parties that she attends, as well as the “goodly measure of flattering attention and admiration” she receives (76). Primarily, the artist Axel Olsen occupies her time and thoughts, and the Dahls encourage this relationship; however, he “gave no sign of the more personal kind of concern…she had tried to secure” (77). Aunt Katrina discusses the advisability of a “good” marriage for Helga, and the fact that life would have been easier had Helga’s mother returned to liberal Denmark to raise her biracial child. Helga experiences her familiar reaction of annoyance and anger in response. Finally, Katrina implies that Helga should “stop wasting…time” (80) if Olsen does not seem ready to marry her.
Chapters 12-14 Analysis
Helga experiences the same sense of freedom as her Copenhagen-bound ship leaves Manhattan as she did on the train bound to Chicago, following her abrupt departure from Naxos. She reflects upon her “inherent aloneness” (64) and chronic social avoidance. The image of Dr. Anderson continues to emerge in her consciousness at odd times. Helga wonders if she was in love with him, but reasons that she “strives to please” (64) a potential lover, and she had avoided doing so. Although she is anxious about the possibility of racial intolerance during the upcoming dinner on the ship, the ship’s crew and passengers are quite welcoming and friendly, and she recalls some of the Danish language learned as a child. Her Aunt Katrina and her husband, Herr Dahl, await Helga’s arrival at the pier and greet her affectionately. Once again, Helga feels that she will wipe the slate clean and anticipates happiness due to her change in geographical location, rather than that of her own worldview.
Her aunt and uncle provide Helga with the gracious lifestyle that she has always longed for, “Not money, but the things which money could give, leisure, attention, beautiful surroundings” (67). They are extravagantly generous and provide a new wardrobe of lovely clothing; however, Helga is not without reservation. She recognizes that she is socially accepted in Copenhagen, although her mixed racial heritage renders her somewhat of a curiosity who draws interested stares from local residents. Additionally, Helga perceives that the expectation is that she will reciprocate her family’s generosity by elevating their social status. Conversely, she dislikes the idea of her aunt choosing her clothing and “flaunting flashy things” (69). Ultimately, she meets Herr Axel Olsen, a famous portrait painter, who observes Helga and makes arrangements with her uncle to paint her picture. Helga is essentially happy, but realizes that she is losing her characteristic of self-sovereignty.
As during her initial experience in Harlem, Helga enjoys her newfound popularity and luxurious lifestyle. She also vows never to return to America. She notes that she never recalls the country except in “unfavorable contrast to Denmark” (75). The Dahls encourage her to remain in the country, opining that her own mother’s life would have been vastly improved had she returned home to raise her biracial child. They counsel her to pursue a “good” marriage, and are clearly interested in her pursuit of a union with Herr Olsen. Following a conversation about this topic with her aunt, Helga experiences the characteristic irritability that preceded her departure from Harlem.
