Quicksand

“Her own lack of family disconcerted them. No family. That was the crux of the whole matter.” 

Helga considers the source of the difficulty that the family of James Vayle, her fiancé and Naxos colleague, has experienced in accepting her. She feels that her lack of parents or extended family has led to the demise of this relationship, and to her social difficulty in Naxos, as well as in her former home of Nashville. Implicit in this idea is the theme of inclusiveness as well as the exclusion of “The Other” in all societies. Black society of this time period is presented within the novel as equivalent to white society in terms of rigidity and stratification. While Helga suffers from an aloofness in her personality that deters her from forming satisfactory relationships, it is implied that her lack of ancestral lineage deterred her in this effort, as well. 

“Well! Even if every last one of you did come from homes where you weren’t taught any manners, you might at least try to pretend that you’re capable of learning here, now that you have the opportunity.” 

Miss MacGooden, a matron who supervises a children’s dormitory at the Naxos school, utters this statement to her young charges. Many aspects of racism are analyzed by means of the characters’ dialogue in this novel, and the words of a theoretically-nurturing staff member are ironic in their tone. One of Helga’s legitimate complaints about the school is the acquiescence of the faculty and students to prejudicial philosophies and language being espoused on their own campus; for example, the visiting Southern minister who is met with applause after he praises the Naxos students for knowing their place.