Big Question: What is the role of clothing and appearance in Nella Larsen’s Quicksand?
Now that we’ve read Nella Larsen’s Quicksand and discussed it in class, I’d like you to take a look at one of the big questions posed by this text. As Helga moves from one place to another her wardrobe changes. Choose one of these places and focus on Helga’s clothing, accessories, and appearance as she tries to find her place in her new home. What do her clothes tell us about Helga at the time or the people around her? How much choice does Helga have in deciding what to wear? Who or what drives the clothing choices made by Helga? These are just sample questions that you might address to answer the big question. Write a three to five page paper on the role of clothing in Quicksand and use the text to support your argument. Post the paper on your blog and link it to your Glog.
Create a Glog to introduce the reader of your paper to Helga in the location you chose to explore. Find images, video, and audio that bring Miss Crane to life. Include at least two quotations from the text to explain items you’ve included on your Glog.
As an example, here’s a Glog from last semester that was created as an introduction to a discussion about the debate or theme of Uplift and the Harlem Renaissance.
Post-Colonial Literature: Short Analysis
14 years ago
your focus on the motif/metaphor of clothing is really helpful . . and I can see how well it would work in a classroom . . . clothing as metaphor within ideologies/discourses of "blackness" . . . and, obviously, the visual dimensions of "glogging" might be very helpful here . . . I wonder if using the glog to explore black style(s) of the 1920s (rather or in addition to bringing Ms Crane to life) might help make connections that would be the raw material for the essay?
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