Daddy Issues???

In Nella Larsen’s Quicksand, Helga Crane’s journey can be understood through Maureen Murdock’s Heroine’s Journey framework, particularly the stage of "Healing the Wound with the Masculine." This stage is evident after Helga confronts the contrasting aspects of her identity—her white side in Copenhagen and her black side in Harlem. In this stage, the heroine must come to terms with the masculine influences on her life, understanding their positive and negative aspects. According to Murdock, this involves healing parts of herself shaped by masculine traits, like Helga’s trauma from her father’s abandonment. For Helga, this healing begins as she reflects on her relationship with her father, realizing how his absence prevented her from fully understanding her black identity, while also coming to terms with why he left her mother.

A key moment of reconciliation occurs when Helga reflects on her relationship with her father. For much of her life, Helga resented her father for abandoning her and her mother. However, as she matures, she sees his actions from a new perspective. Larsen writes, "For the first time Helga Crane felt sympathy rather than contempt and hatred for the father, who so often and so angrily she had blamed for his desertion of her mother" (Larsen 86). This shift marks a moment of healing for Helga, as she moves beyond her negative perceptions of her father. She starts to understand his decisions not as acts of betrayal, but as part of his struggle, leading to a sense of reconciliation with the masculine aspect of her identity that she had long rejected.

Helga’s growing understanding of her father helps her recognize the positive aspects of his masculinity, particularly qualities that align with her own black identity. She begins to appreciate his “incessant hope” and his connection to the "inexhaustible humor" of his people, traits that resonate with her sense of freedom and self-expression. Helga begins to understand her father’s “facile surrender to the irresistible ties of race,” a realization that speaks directly to her own heart(Larsen 87). She recognizes how his deep connection to his race, and the qualities that are intrinsic to Black culture, mirror her own desires for belonging and self-discovery. This recognition allows her to see how her father’s masculinity—his resilience, hope, and connection to his heritage, aligns with her growing understanding of her black identity, a side of herself she had struggled to embrace.

As Helga processes this new understanding of herself and her father, she begins to feel a sense of peace. Larsen describes this transformation: "A miraculous calm upon her. Life seemed to expand and to become very easy" (Larsen 106). This moment of calm signals Helga’s emotional growth, as she no longer sees herself as fragmented between two cultures, but instead embraces her full, integrated self. By reconciling with the masculine, Helga moves closer to self-reconciliation, showing that this stage in the heroine’s journey allows her to heal and find balance in her life.