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Chapter 4
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Quicksand, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Race, Segregation, and Society
Mixed-Race Identity
Racial Shame and Emotional Repression
Race, Beauty, and Exoticism
Religion, Poverty, and Oppression
Summary
Analysis
Chicago is gray, seething, and rushing around Helga. Helga decides to have a bath and a good meal, and then surprise Uncle Peter. When she knocks on the door, her uncle is out. The maid fetches Mrs. Nilssen, which surprises Helga, who didn’t know her uncle had gotten married. Mrs. Nilssen is dismissive of Helga and tells her not to return again. In fact, she tells Helga not to think of them as family at all. Helga is overcome with fear and anger, and runs away from the house as fast as she can. Helga is stung by the rejection, but she understands why Mrs. Nilssen would act that way. She feels like an “obscene sore” that should never have existed in her white family’s life.
Mrs. Nilssen’s refusal of Helga exposes her racism, as she doesn’t want to be associated with people of color, even if they are technically related by marriage. Helga’s pattern of feeling angry, fearful, and running away when faced with confrontations resurfaces once again. Helga’s sympathy with Mrs. Nilssen’s position and her description of herself as a “sore” exposes her self-loathing. Helga feels like an outsider and hates herself for her race, so she is not surprised when other people express hatred toward her.
Active
Themes
Later, in her hotel room, Helga remembers the reason she went to Uncle Peter’s house in the first place: she needs money. She’s confident she can figure out some kind of work, and decides to try the library, as she loves books. She looks out of the window at the teeming multicolored crowds. As she steps into the street and joins the crowd, Helga feels a strange sense of enthusiasm, and even though she doesn’t know Chicago at all, she feels as if she’s come home.
Active
Themes
