Character Analysis: The Stone Angel

The narrator remembers another occasion when she failed to reveal her concern for Marvin. When the war came he was enlisted in the army. She could have stopped him because he was only seventeen years old, but she didn’t. Her good reason was that she should not discourage him when he fulfilled his duty to his country. Consequently, Hagar failed in her role as a mother. Her uncompromising pride assumed her back. Furthermore, when Doris and Marvin were planning to dispose from the house, she would not allow them to do so. Yet, if they did, she would file a suit against Marvin. Even at the age of ninety she clung to her possessions that she inherited this worldly outlook from her father who had transported the most expensive Italian marble as the

This task has not been a terrible one for the author, since she has chosen to give a picture of an old woman who rages against her fate. Perhaps, Hagar can be summed up in the best way in Marvin’s words when he remarks to the nurse that his mother is a “holy terror”. However, Hagar’s hidden fear of losing her home cannot be overlooked. The reference to “Silver threads” with regard to the nursing home for old people has great relevance today since it serves to highlight the agony of the old, who lead an isolated life at the end of their lives. Absence of love and companionship is a curse that threatens this group. Consequently, the narrator’s nomad nature is highlighted she flees to Shadow point in order to escape from being sent to the nursing

She told Doris, her daughter-in-law, that Marvin should give up the idea of selling their house. She could not bear the thought of losing things which were dear to her. She loved them all possessively, which includes the knobbed jug of blue and milky glass, her mother’s picture in an oval frame of gilt and black velvet, the elite mirror from the Currie house, her own picture at twenty and the cut-glass decanter with the silver top it was Bram’s wedding gift to her.

Margaret Laurence’s novel projects the wilderness that prevails in Hagar. The uncompromising pride of Hagar is her wilderness. In Canadian literature nature is often compared to woman. Even the imaginary Manawaka represents a state of mind in which Hagar’s alienation from others is noticeable. Her emotional barrenness hold backs her from interacting with the outside world. The proud daughter of a proud father, she considers herself far superior to her friends. Her husband too experiences her dislike for