Quicksand
Literal-minded readers might be surprised to find there is quicksand in Quicksand. It is an metaphorical title which symbolizes the theme of Helga’s life as an ill-fated struggle to avoid being caught in the grip of conventional gender and racial expectations which relentlessly pursue the objective of dragging her down so deeply into exactly the life she wants to avoid. Eventually, any struggle to pull herself out is futile.
Helga Crane
At one point Helga thinks to herself, “She was about to fly.” Imagery of things flying—from cabs to ribbons to hair—permeate the narrative. And Helga’s entire narrative is a symbolic flight around the world to both get away from herself and find herself. And all this flight imagery begins with something as simple as her name. Cranes have historically been a bird endowed with symbolism related to its ability to fly vast distances without growing too tired to rest.
The Black Dress
Helga’s symbolic flight is an attempt to discover her “blackness” and finally feel completely at home within it. As a light-skinned product of a mixed race relationship, she must find this blackness and “put it on” before she can begin her flight. This is symbolically realized in the “black cobwebby net” dress that reveals too much because “there’s not enough of it” that is the act which stimulates her feeling that she is “about to fly.”
Paleness
Paleness is a recurring motif which symbolizes distillation of blackness for Helga. In the beginning—before she is about to fly—her face is described as being a “pale amber.” From that point forward, nearly every reference to paleness carries negative connotations. The cold skies of March are pale. The “pale Caucasian face” causes her to strike out against a man claiming to be her uncle. The “sinister folk” who stole her birthright are “pale and powerful people.”
Anne Grey
Helga’s rival for the affections of Dr. Anderson who eventually marries him is the antithesis of Helga on the issue of flying to blackness. Anne’s name is symbolic of her commitment to real racial equality and embrace of her blackness. She says all the right things and does all the right things in public to put on the persona of being committed to racial equality, but in reality she is just whitewashed black woman mirroring all the failures of white society on the issue of racism, but in reverse.
