Quicksand, and the Illusion of the Manageable World
time for mentally stable blog post march!
How, in "The Illusion of the Perfect World," could there be a coping strategy called "Disappointed?" Doesn't the existence of something depressing inherently break the illusion of the Perfect World before it can begin? How would a depressed person be able to think that the world is perfect?
Well, in Quicksand, we can see some of that 'depressed' heroine, and see how she attempts to navigate her depressing world, before being hit with a betrayal. Helga, from the very beginning of the book, feels disillusioned with her current life. From the first few chapters, Helga already realizes that her life at Naxos is terrible, and chooses to abandon the South for Chicago. The most direct way of thinking about this in the context of a Heroine's Journey would be consider this first part of the book as some sort of separation from the known world, as the actual physical separation of Helga from her position in Naxos also serves as a neat dividing line between known and unknown world. In Schmidt's model, that's the third stage, while in Murdock's (as we discussed one day in class), that's the first stage. There doesn't seem to be any place for a perfect world in this place, given Helga's experience with all sorts of discrimination, so perhaps, Schmidt's model is obsolete for analyzing this book.
However, perhaps it would be possible to still fit in Schmidt's model, by altering our definition for the 'Perfect World,' and thereby shifting the true journey into the unknown forward in time, up until when Helga has already landed in Chicago.
Firstly, Schmidt's 'Perfect World' illusion does not necessarily have to be actually perfect. It just needs to serve as a tolerable position in which our future heroine can stay, without needing to challenge the societal order she is in, or embark on a journey. Things may be evidently imperfect, but that doesn't matter, because the heroine accepts this imperfection as a fact of life, and believes that her best option is to remain in the known world. In Quicksand's case, Helga doesn't necessarily believe that remaining in Naxos is the best idea, but she does still end up falling back on her Uncle. She believes her issues are manageable, if only she were to go north and seek out the help of Uncle Peter. So, Helga relies on the known world of her family, instead of immediately choosing to embark into the unknown, believing herself to still be in full control. This is the essence of what the 'perfect world' means in Helga's context; the world is flawed, but she can handle it without a true foray into the unknown.
Of course, she ends up being hit by a betrayal, which can be seen as her initial plans fall apart. Helga visits her uncle for support, but is thoroughly rebuffed by her aunt. At this point, the illusion is broken. While Helga, up until this point, believed that her family would still consider her one of their own, her aunt's bitter rejection shattered any sort of illusion in that sense. Mrs. Nilssen states plainly that Helga will not be considered part of the family, cutting all potential ties that Helga might have hoped for. Helga now realizes that her family won't be there to help, which was her entire line of planning for coming over to Chicago. With that, the known, 'perfect' world evaporates around her, forcing her to enter the next stage of the heroine's journey.
Great post! When I was first looking at Schmidt's version of the heroine's journey I shared a similar confusion about that first step. We were initially led to believe that the perfect world has to be a physical place, and while it can be and is in some stories, it can also be the mindset of a character. Helga is a really good example of that, and she represents how the perfect world doesn't have to be entirely perfect for there to be some illusion involved.
ReplyDeleteI think that Helga definitely doesn't think adopting a submissive role is the best option, so she is trapped in a phase of complacent disappointment as you would say. I think that the shift that happens is that she initially has more of a hopeful "Cinderella" attitude towards this service, in both Naxos and her White family, as being noble and beneficial but soon realizes that it just upholds hierarchy. Prominent moments in this transition include the culture of hierarchy and industrial discipline at Naxos and her uncle's wife not even considering her family.
ReplyDeleteInteresting blog post! I never really thought that there was a perfect world for Helga seeing as when the first chapter of the book she is already hates the school. But like you said, it doesn't have to be perfect, just as perfect as the character thinks it will get. For Helga she never had much going for her, so although Naxos doesn't seem perfect to us, it's probably pretty good to her. I would argue though that she has an earlier betrayal at the beginning of the book (what sparks her to leave for Chicago). She realizes her hatred for the system and leaves that "perfect" world in search of another.
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