“From Those about Her Came a Thunder-Clap of Joy”: Religion and Manipulation in Quicksand

In Quicksand by Nella Larsen, Helga Crane is taken in by a church and removed to the south at the end of the work. The common critical consensus is that this represents either sexual fulfilment or a failure in artistry by Larsen. This article argues that what Helga undergoes is textbook indoctrination by a cult masquerading as a legitimate church. When the finding of New Religious Movement Studies is applied to the novella, it is clear that the ending of Quicksand is a scathing commentary of the storefront churches that became popular after the “Great Migration.” Helga’s struggle throughout the novella to accept her biracial identity makes her the perfect victim of the church which acts as an identity designating environment for Helga before trapping her physically in the south and destroying her body through childbirth. Keywords: Love bombing, Bi-racial, African American, Identity