Example research essay topic: Hagar Shipley Stone Angel - 1,035 words

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The Stone Angel is a compelling journey of flashbacks seen through the eyes of Hagar Shipley, a 90 -year-old woman nearing the end of her life. In the novel, Margaret Laurence, uses the stone angel to effectively symbolize the Currie family values and pride. In particular, the stone angel essentially represents the pride and cold personality traits of Hagar Shipley. Within the novel, Margaret Laurence uses the Stone Angel to symbolize the Currie family pride, Hagar's lack of compassion for her family and friends, and Hagar's blindness to the feelings and needs of the others. Jason Currie purchases the stone angel memorial from Italy at a great expense and places it at the grave of his wife, in the Manawaka cemetery. The stone angel is the largest and most expensive memorial in the cemetery.

Although the stone angel is intended to be a memorial for Mrs. Currie, it is not really suitable because Hagar describes her as being a meek and a feeble ghost (3). The angel is not intended for Mrs. Currie, but in fact, represents the materialistic and egotistical values that characterizes Jason and later, Hagar.

Jason purchases the stone angel in pride, not in grief over the death of this wife, bought in pride to mark her bones and proclaim his dynasty, as he fancied, forever and a day (Laurence 3). Jasons strong ego is emphasized when, at the death of his wife, he leaves money to the town for a memorial park that would continue his family name. The angel is symbolic of Hagar's pride in the way that Hagar seems to be made of stone, like the angel. Hagar's strong pride does not allow her to express her true emotions for fear that she will appear to be soft and weak. As a child, when Jason punishes her, she is determined not to cry, I wouldnt let him see my cry, I was so enraged. He used a foot ruler, and when I jerked my smarting palms back, he made me hold them out again (9).

Hagar's pride also keeps her from speaking up and fighting for her brother, Matt, when Jason sends her away to college to become more civilized. Although Hagar knows Matt deserves to go more than she does, her pride prevents her from showing her true feelings to Matt: I wanted to tell Matt I knew he should have been the one to go east, but I could not speak of it to him When it came to saying good-bye to Matt, at first I avoided his eyes but then I thought- why on earth should I? So I looked at him squarely and said good-bye so evenly and calmly youd have thought I was going over to South Wachakwa or Freehold and would be back that evening. Later in the train, I cried, thinking of him, but of course, he never knew that, and Id have been the last to tell him (42). Hagar is as hard and cold hearted as the stone angel. Hagar never reveals her feelings, and for this reason, she is not able to develop genuine relationships.

Her pride prevents her from showing emotions she feels and it also prevents her from dealing with strong emotions of others. When the brother Dan is dying and needs comfort, Matt suggests Hagar wear their mothers shawl to comfort Dan. Once again, Hagar's pride prevents her from doing this: But all I could think of was that meek woman Id never seen, the woman Dan said to resemble so much and from whom hed inherited a frailty I could not help but detest, however much a part of me wanted to sympathize. To play at being her it was beyond me.

I cant, Matt. I was crying, shaken by torments he never even suspected, wanting above all else to do the thing he asked, but unable to do it, unable to bend enough (25). Hagar's inundating pride also restricts any emotion she has for her husband, Bram. When Hagar and Bram do it, Hagar refuses to admit to her husband that she enjoys doing it with him. She tells the reader It was not so very long after we wed, when first I felt my blood and vitals rise to meet his. He never knew.

I never let him know. I never spoke aloud, and I prided myself upon keeping my pride intact, like some maidenhead (81). Hagar never shares her feelings with her husband. This is one of the reasons why their marriage fails. To make a relationship work, couples need to communicate with each other, and share their innermost feelings. Hagar fails to do this, destroying the future of her marriage.

In Hagar's later years, after the destruction of her marriage, her favorite son John is involved in an accident. While in the hospital, John dies and Hagar hides her true feelings from the others, She put a well-meaning arm around me. Cry. Let yourself. Its the best thing. But I {Hagar} shoved her arm away.

I straightened my spine, and that was the hardest thing Ive ever had to do in my entire life, to stand straight then. I wouldnt cry in front of strangers, whatever it cost me (242). Eventually, Hagar realizes that she is unable to show her emotions and describes herself as being transformed to stone like the stone angel, I found my tears had been locked too long and wouldnt come now at my bidding. The night my son died I was transformed to stone and never wept at all (243). Hagar holds her emotions inside of her so no one else can see how she feels. However, when she does want to cry, she cannot because she has held her emotions in for so long.

Although the stone angel symbolizes the Curries family pride repeatedly, it is Hagar who best symbolizes the stone angel. The memorial, in addition is doubly blind, being made from solid stone and the fact that the artist neglected to add the eyeballs the angel. The angel aptly symbolizes the blindness, hardness, and lack of feelings that are characteristics Hagar displays during her life. In retrospect, Hagar is the stone angel. Bibliography:

Research essay sample on Hagar Shipley Stone Angel