Marriage in Nella Larsen's Quicksand

My thesis will be focused on the novel written by Nella Larsen, Quicksand (1928), which tells the story of Helga Crane and her struggle of being a biracial woman who lives in a racist and patriarchal society. Among the reasons why I have decided to do this work, there is the fact that I was struck by the modernity of the issues that the author dealt within this novel. Larsen's modernity lies not only in terms of narrative style choices and psychological insights, but mostly and above all, it lies on the issues that she deals with: womanhood, female sexuality, gender expectations, wifehood, motherhood, race. I will focus my analysis on the institution of marriage, which has oppressed and relegated women to an inferior level with respect to men, thus making gender equality a utopia. My work, then, will analyze the different types of marriages presented in the novel and my main task will be to analyze, in the first chapter, these different types of marriages presented in the novel. The second chapter will deal with interracial marriages, where I will focus on how they are perceived, both in the past and present time. I will also focus on what are the main implications for biracial children that live in a society that does not approve these racial intermingling in the first place. The purpose of my thesis is to highlight the tragic end of Helga Crane (which was however deliberately constructed and necessary for Nella Larsen in order to criticize the institution of marriage which has oppressed women), a tragic life resulted from the societal constraints (namely racial and gender constraints) she was subjected to. The other purpose of this thesis is to acknowledge Nella Larsen's effort and bravery that distinguish her from other authors of the period because of the modernity of the issues she dealt with, that is, portraying the struggle of being a biracial individual and specifically what it implies to be a biracial woman.