Helga Crane
The protagonist of Quicksand, Crane is a mixed-race girl living in the United States. Her mother is Danish and her father is West Indian, causing her to feel caught between two worlds, neither which she truly belongs to. Throughout the novel, she travels throughout the US and the world, exploring her European ancestral location of Denmark, and tries to find a place where she belongs and someone she connects with.
Reverend Green
Reverend Green is the preacher Helga meets when she returns to Harlem and stumbles into a church one night. She ends up marrying him and moving to the Deep South with him. She has several children with him, but still lives a life with constant discontent, which she finds the church community fails to soothe.
Anne Grey
Anne is a widowed socialite living in Harlem. She and Helga are introduced by her aunt-in-law, and quickly become rivals of sorts; she eventually marries Helga's love, Dr. Robert Anderson. Unlike Anderson, she is vehemently aware and involved with race issues, attempting to uplift the African-American population through charity events.
Robert Anderson
Dr. Anderson is a polite gentleman with whom Helga falls deeply in love during her stay at Naxos (where he is the principal). However, he is unable to act on his feelings towards her. Helga remains in love with him, but he marries Anne Grey, propelling her to marry the reverend and lead an unhappy life.
James Vayle
James Vayle is Helga's fiance in Naxos, the place where she teaches at the beginning of the novella. His family does not approve of her due to her lack of affluent parentage, and she ends their relationship when she moves away. He is quite a serious young man, and she meets him again later in the text at a party where he once again asks Helga to marry him with her refusal.
