Helga Crane: The Definition of a REAL Tragic Mulatto

The character Helga Crane from Nella Larsen's novel "Quicksand" is what the true definition of tragic mulatto represents. The notion of the Tragic Mulatto formed with several other stereotypes of black people in acting or different writings. Characteristics or stereotypes such as Sambo, the Sapphire, the Mammy and other names that describe how others thought African Americans to be. Helga Crane was no different. She was of a mixed race and had a battle within to figure out just who she was. She suffered from identity loss because she did not know where she belonged. She left where she was because she did not like the way blacks were treated, but she did not completely identify herself as being an African American woman. Crane also looked for attention from men, women, and anyone else who could/would give it to her and when they didn't she thought something was wrong with them, but once she moved to Denmark and received the attention she wanted, she did not know how to embrace it. By her being of mixed race and having a voice and opinion for both races inside of her she was confused as to what she truly believed and always paranoid that she was being judged in some type of way. In the end it was a tragedy because even though she had children and had a man that loved her, she did not know if she truly loved him and her situation, because she did not know if she truly loved herself.