From Aunt Katrina to Helga

My Dear Helga,

I have not heard from you in quite some time. Anne Grey – I guess now it’s Anne Anderson – told me that you had married and now live in Alabama with a Reverend for a husband. I don’t understand. Did you even have a proper wedding? Why did you not tell us about such an important moment in your life? You were so picky before, having so many reasons why you wouldn’t marry Axel Olsen or anybody else. Is this Reverend the man you truly love and want to spend the rest of your life with?

I ask because I read an article recently concerning Southern women of the United States who migrate to the North, and the problems they face, especially when the state or government are trying to control what black women do. Now, I know that you’ve never gotten yourself into trouble like this, but the stories you told me about the time you left Naxos to when you met Anne tells me that you’ve always been a little flighty. I don’t think you are wholly satisfied with the different lives you led in different areas. You wonder from place to place, and I am wondering if you are still happy and satisfied with your married life now that you’ve experienced a few years of it. I’m worried about you. Being married to a Reverend isn’t easy financially, especially if you have children.

I am writing to entreat you to come visit us here in Denmark. Herr Dahl and many of your friends here miss you. Bring your children and your husband as well; we would like to meet this man that has become so important to you. If you are unhappy in any way, come see us and let us help you in any way we can. I want to be a part of your family’s life since I wasn’t able to be a part of yours as you were growing up. Let us help. And please write back to let us know how you are doing.

Affectionately,

Aunt Katrina

Question 1) Helga’s story was a fascinating way to get inside her psyche. However, I find it very difficult to understand what happened to her in the end. She always seemed to be going from place to place to find her niche, taking opportunities as they come. However, her marriage to the Reverend seems impulsive, impatient, and so unlike her. What made Helga want to just get married and to the Reverend? Is it mostly because of her religious conversion? Why does she keep on having children, up until the very end, despite the fact that she doesn’t want to? What happened to her strong resolve? Why doesn’t she take the children and leave her marriage?

Question 2) The article by Hazel Carby also provides great insight into Helga’s life. Although Helga doesn’t actually end up in prostitution or under control of groups and individuals who want to “police” black migrant women, Helga displays many attributes of those same women. She feels lost, alone, like an outcast and the awe and love for her life in any one place always fades away. Is Helga’s marriage to the Reverend a form of policing of black women of her time by keeping her attached him, or is it a form of prostitution because she doesn’t want more children or to be with her husband but does because of her children and relatively stable financial security? Does Helga still succumb to everything Carby talks about in her article despite the many opportunities that await her?