Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on RACIAL AND GENDER AWARENESS IN THE NOVELS OF NELLA LARSEN
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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 6 page paper discusses the two novels of Nella Larsen: QuickSand and Passing for themes of race and gender. Quotes cited from both texts to support the thesis. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Page Count:
6 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_MBlarsen.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
that is universal to any reader who is exposed to their words. Such could be the case in Nella Larsens books, QuickSand and Passing. Within these novels one will find
the authors poignant messages about race and gender as she explores the human condition. Racial ambiguity seems to be Helga Cranes biggest problem in Larsens first novel, QuickSand. Part black,
part white, Helga feels trapped between the world of the white man and the black man. This ambiguity and ambivalence is shown through her sexual escapades with several men, both
black and white. Additionally, this dualism that she endures leaves her insecure, as she does not know where she fits in, nor with whom to identify herself. This is
evident in her passive reactions toward racial slurs toward blacks and her lack of reaction toward blacks who speaking harshly about whites. What this tends to do is leave her
to become a woman without a people. Alone. As a result Helgas self esteem is eroded almost from the beginning. The way she feels about herself is evident when
her Uncle Peters new wife makes a racist comment about Helga. "She saw herself for an obscene sore in all their lives, at all costs to be hidden"(Larsen 29). She
begins to see herself as somehow less than the rest of humanity, a sub-human at best. This self hatred continues throughout the novel and just as one believes that
she has found a place where she can be happy, the ambivalence returns. This is quite obvious in her attempt to live in Harlem. Finally, she leaves Harlem because she
says that she can no longer stand the reminder day in and day out of her fathers heritage(Larsen 56). What is so ironic is that her fathers heritage is also
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