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 4-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary
Helga is upset by the heat and being forced to sit “with others of her own race” (22) on the train en route to Chicago. She reflects upon her meeting with Dr. Anderson, wondering why she had allowed herself to become so angry. She realizes that she has been rude to Anderson and knows that he might have been able to persuade her to remain at Naxos.
Helga recalls the circumstances of her “remote” Scandinavian mother’s life, and “hoped that she had been happy…in the little time it had lasted” (23) before being abandoned by Helga’s father. Her mother’s second marriage to a white man resulted in Helga’s exposure to the “savage unkindness of her stepbrothers and sisters” (23) and contributed to her constant sense of loneliness, which was only exacerbated by her mother’s death. She realizes that the explanation of her reasons for breaking her engagement to James Vayle have been “inane and insufficient” (23).
Ultimately, Helga is able to secure a berth at an inflated price, but her thoughts still turn to frustration with her performance during her resignation from Naxos.
Chapter 5 Summary
Although Chicago is cold and gray, Helga experiences a great sense of freedom there, compared to her experience at Naxos. Nonetheless, her sense of isolation remains. Despite the fact that she was born there, she has no home or friends in the city. While she is unhappy about it, the only residence available to her is the Young Women’s Christian Association. Helga comforts herself with the thought of “…a hot bath…a really good meal, peep into the shops” (27), thereby retaining her interest in physical comfort and beauty.
She pursues her plan to seek financial help from her maternal uncle, Peter, but is snubbed by the maid. Helga is surprised to meet Mrs. Nilssen, Peter’s wife, and senses “the latent antagonism in the woman’s manner” (28). Mrs. Nilssen advises that Helga “mustn’t expect anything else” (28), and should not visit again.
Helga is emotionally numbed by the experience, as well as by her ability to understand Mrs. Nilssen’s stance. Helga sees herself as “an obscene sore” (29). Upon recalling that she needs money, she decides to apply for work at a library, which leads to a sudden upswing in her mood. Uncharacteristically, Helga feels filled with enthusiasm, and senses that she is at home.
Chapter 6 Summary
Helga awakens to rain, recalls her plan to find work, and dresses “in the plainest garments she possessed” (31), only to be rejected for work at the library. The YWCA employment agency is closed, and Helga makes several impulsive purchases and no further attempts at a job search for three days. When she eventually visits the YWCA agency, she finds that they specialize in placing domestic workers, and that her lack of references will make it impossible for them to help her.
Weeks of job searches follow, and Helga begins to feel terrified and lonesome. She attends the Negro Episcopal Church in the hope that a “good Christian” (34) would befriend her, but her own aloofness prevents this. The YWCA agency contacts her regarding a job assisting Mrs. Hayes-Rore, a wealthy widow of mixed race who needs someone “intelligent” to help with speeches. The prospective employer is an advocate for race issues. Helga notes that she has “badly straightened hair and dirty fingernails” (35). Helga will be her companion on a trip to New York, and Helga is pleased that she will have a source of references. Helga experiences a sudden surge in her mood, noting that “even the ads in the shop windows seemed to shine with radiance” (36). She starts to form a plan to remain in New York and obtain employment there, after her work with Mrs. Hayes-Rore is completed.
Chapter 7 Summary
Helga’s life is altered due to her association with Mrs. Hayes-Rore, who has social prestige in black society. Helga edits speeches regarding racial issues which her employer delivers to the Negro Women’s League of Clubs. Helga starts to find the Hayes-Rore to be interesting and likable. In response to her questioning, Helga explains that “I haven’t any people. There’s only me” (38). She tearfully recounts the story of her parents. Mrs. Hayes-Rore ultimately offers to help her find employment in New York, providing Helga with lodging “uptown” (40), meaning Harlem.
This plan leads to Helga being introduced to Anne Grey, a widowed Harlem socialite who lives in a large house by herself. The employers also use connections at a “new Negro insurance company” to get Helga a job. She notes that “Colored organizations always need more brains as well as more money” (41). By way of personal advice, she tells Helga to avoid mentioning her white ancestry.
Immediately upon entering Anne Grey’s residence, Helga feels at home among the beautiful furnishings and the elegantly-dressed hostess. Ann is gracious and welcoming, but when Helga recalls the event years later, it makes her feel “like a criminal” (42) as she comes to lust after Anne’s second husband, Robert Anderson.
Chapters 4-7 Analysis
Being forced to sit in a segregated train car “with others of her own race” (22) en route from Naxos to Chicago recalls to Helga the indignities suffered as a child due to her mixed racial lineage. Her mother’s second marriage “of necessity” to a white man resulted in Helga’s lack of acceptance by her stepsiblings. Her mother’s demise when Helga was fifteen years old only accentuated her already existing sense of isolation, alienation and discontent. This pattern follows Helga throughout all her relationships. The manner in which she breaks her engagement with James Vayle illustrates her ability to clinically excise emotions, and other people, from her life. She realizes that the explanation she gave him was both not enough and under-intelligent.She moves on in an effort to find an ever-elusive sense of contentment.
Upon her arrival in Chicago, she visits the home of her maternal uncle, Peter, in order to borrow money. She is humiliated by his new wife, who asks that she never visit again. Helga experiences one of her characteristic mood swings as a result. She is unsuccessful in being befriended by any of the congregants in the Episcopalian service that she attends, and highly disappointed when rejected for employment in the Library. Her prospects improve when the YWCA employment agency refers her to Mrs. Hayes-Rore, a wealthy black widow who advocates for racial justice, as a temporary assistant. Association with this woman represents a critical turning point in Helga’s life, as Hayes-Rore is responsible for securing Helga a job in a Negro insurance agency in which she is an investor. Additionally, Mrs. Hayes-Rore introduces Helga to Anne Grey, a young, widowed Harlem socialite who invites Helga to share her luxurious home. The home and its extravagant, tasteful furnishings appeal to an innate snobbishness on Helga’s part; she has always enjoyed luxury, and almost feels it mandatory that she be surrounded by beautiful things.
