Helga Crane Living In Harlem Analysis

Helga Crane can never fit completely into either of the societies she has chosen to associate herself with. As a bi-racial woman in the early 19th century she fits in neither with black people nor white. But there is a place where she can feel more at home and that place is Copenhagen. Her ideals, likes and dislikes align better with the society in Copenhagen than Harlem. While Helga identified herself with African-Americans while living in Harlem this idea quickly fades as she becomes exasperated with some of the societal norms that come with living in Harlem. She hates how focused everyone is on “the race problem” and wishes to get away from it. “Even the gentle Anne distressed her. Perhaps because Anne was obsessed by the race problem and fed her obsession.” (p. 50-51) When Helga first came to Harlem she really admired Anne for her intelligence and aesthetic sense when it came to interior decoration. But the longer she stayed in Harlem among purely African-Americans, the more hypocritical she found Anne to be: “Anne’s insinuations were too revolting. She had a slightly sickish feeling, and a flash of anger touched her. She mastered it and ignored Anne’s inadequate answer.” The more intellectual side of Helga becomes annoyed with Anne because she contradicts herself constantly when it comes to “the race

She can’t be completely at home in either of these places but in all actuality, during this time period, there isn’t truly a place where Helga can feel completely at home. What she wants is to be fully accepted and in a world where racial mixing is practically a sin, and one of the races that she is mixed with is treated as no better than animals she can never be fully accepted. Tragically, her mere existence accounts for a huge amount of her unhappiness and even though she can choose to completely pass as one or the other she’ll know in her heart that no one accepts the real