There is a sense of identity when people know their roots. The desire and personal inclination gained by knowing the history from which one comes can provide a sense of being grounded and proud, and most importantly it assists them in knowing who they truly are. It is not a surprise when we read novels with exciting and exhilarating characters that their complex situations lead to confused and unstable lifestyles. Exploring the life of Helga Crane in Nella Larson’s Quicksand and Clare Kendry in Larson’s Passing illustrates the issues the two protagonists face when the tone of their skin became a matter of focus and the results their decisions create. Both novels most likely are Nella Larson’s personal quest in a life of searching for acceptance. As an African American novelist during the Harlem Renaissance, Nella Larsen completed these two novels along with a few short stories. It is apparent that her stories dramatize situations Larsen faced during her actual lifetime. Her father, Peter Walker, was a West Indian man who died when Larsen was a young girl. Her mother, Marie Hanson Walker went on to marry a white man, Peter Larsen, which eventually began some internal racial issues for Nella. Nella struggled finding that sense of comfort and acceptance from her family and peers. Being raised in a lower- middle class white household, she felt like a black child that did not belong. Her newfound white family did not accept her and her black relatives also failed to accept her as they enrolled the young, future novelist into Fisk University to broaden her education and send her far away from them as well (Mainwright).
Larsen spent her entire life with a sensation that there was more out there for her, resulting in her moving place to place to find stability and happiness. At the age of sixteen Nella traveled to Denmark to spend time with her mother’s family. After