Nella Larsen's Passing, Quicksand, and The Stories is a novel about a young mixed race girl named Helga Crane. Abandoned by her father, Helga and her white mother moved to South, but Helga quickly learned to fend for herself as her mom became increasingly emotionally unavailable and eventually died. As an adult, Helga carries these traumas with her, underneath her quest for love and fulfillment, and they often compromise her efforts. In fact Helga moves from city to city, from man to man, and from job to job, growing discontent with her situation at a moment's notice.
Much of Helga's story is influenced by racism. As a mixed race person, she feels constantly confused and compromised regarding her identity. Society tells Helga that her value is dependent upon her racial identity. In the South, this means she's an outcast for her blackness. In Harlem, this means she is not fully a member of the community because of her whiteness.
Finally, in Denmark, however, Helga feels accepted. These people are less motivated by racism because their country doesn't have America's sordid history of slavery and institutionalized racism. They do, however, fetishize Helga's blackness to some extent. Only after Helga stops worrying about how other people perceive her value and decides to determine her own value does she find peace in this regard.
