Autobiography Of An Ex-Colored Man By Nella Larsen

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Regardless of one’s particular journey, we all deal with varying magnitudes of difficulties. This aspect is not only a part of everyday life, but it is also a fundamental one. Every person deals with their own sorrows and from these we are able to learn from them. By overcoming adversities, people create better lives for themselves and can have a new beginning. All of this is portrayed in Nella Larsen’s Quicksand and James Weldon’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Beginning off with the passage from Quicksand, Larsen is able to develop this theme by using the characters. An example of this is seen when Helga struggles with “inherent aloneness” that she is experiencing as she’s on the boat to leave America, where she didn’t feel as though she fit in, and return back to Denmark: “Leaning against the railing, Helga stared into the approaching night, …show more content…

Here, readers learn about just how alone and separated Helga feels from everybody. It was only when she was alone, that she felt free from everybody and the oppression from the superfluity of the race and color. Through reading the story, we learn that this feeling comes from the fact that Helga is biracial. She has a white mother and a black father. However, she is only surrounded by her mother’s side of the family which makes her feel isolated. As Helga is on this trip, she struggles with her fear of meeting her aunt’s husband who is white since she doesn’t know if he’ll be accepting. This come nervousness comes from a prior, unpleasant experience with her Uncle Peter’s new wife, Mrs. Nilssen. However, when the boat trip comes to an end, she deals with her trouble and meets her aunt and new uncle. After this, Helga realizes that “she had all her fears and questionings for nothing” (paragraph 10) because he turned out to be a kind, gracious man. By overcoming and dealing with her racial difficulties, she was able to meet people who made finally made her feel

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