Quicksand, Chapters Twenty and Twenty-One Summary

Helga is intensely depressed and isolated. She is not suicidal but realizes that her self-assurance has been crushed by Anderson's rejection. She goes out in the heavy rain and wind, walking the street, unable to get a taxi. The wind blows her into the flooded gutter. She finds a lighted mission where a gospel choir is singing and praying. At first she sits and laughs, but the people help her to a chair and Helga begins to cry without restraint. The congregation is singing, crying and praying; they identify her as a Jezebel due to her red dress, inviting her to come to Jesus. The preacher and congregation pray for her soul and become carried away. She is interested in the "writhings and weeping" of the women, and the preacher who chants with them. Horrified...