The Stone Angel
Margaret Laurence's story of The Stone Angel is about the life Hagar Currie an emotionless, stubborn and proud woman. Margaret Laurence uses this stone angel, originally bought by Hagar's father, to embody the qualities of Hagar. These virtues are often identical to those one assumes are possessed by the stone angel and are paralleled many times by Laurence. Throughout the novel, Hagar relives her life through her memories.
Over the course of the novel, one realizes that Hagar's loneliness and depression are, in fact, brought on by her pride, detached emotions, obstinacy and ignorance which she uses, subconsciously or not, to push those who love her most away. Hagar Currie was incapable of loving others, much like
…show more content…
"I wouldn't let him see me 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. He looked at my dry eyes in a kind of fury, as though he'd failed unless he drew water from them." (Page 9) Hagar's father straps her hands with a ruler but even as a child, she will not let her tears be seen, she will not let him see that he is hurting her. Even when her brother Dan is near death, she will not comfort him, for it requires that she act as their mother, which to her is despicable. "But all I could think of was that meek woman I'd never seen, the woman Dan was said to resemble so much an from whom he'd inherited a frailty I could not help but detest, however much a part of me wanted to sympathize." Hagar cannot bear the thought of pretending to be someone as feeble and weak as their mother. Throughout her marriage, Hagar never lets Bram know that she enjoyed their lovemaking. "He never knew. I never let him know, it was all inner. (Page 81) When Hagar's husband Bram dies she does not shed a tear, not even when there is only her son to witness it. "But when we'd buried Bram and come home again and lighted lamps for the evening, it was John who cried, not I." (Page 184) Still, when her son John dies she does not weep, as if she had been born without tear ducts. "The night my son died I was
There was never a bloodier war on American soil than the Civil War. Those short four years took the lives of thousands of soldiers and destroyed many infrastructures of America. The war, however, was more than a battle between Lincoln and Davis, the North and the South, slavery and freeman. The Civil War was a war of ideals. The accounts told by the soldiers shown that, although the two sides did not agree on most topics, the North and the South did held certain ideals. In The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, the eyes of James Longstreet and Joshua Chamberlain expresses the battle between the North and the South as an opportunity to show their major contributions, their loyalties to their troops, and their opinions of the war that shaped them.
commander of the Union forces is George Meade, and that he believes the Union Forces
Besides the children of Macon Dead, there are other biblical allusions in the names of people. One of these is Hagar, Pilate's son and Milkman's cousin. Though the biblical Hagar is not well known, her character in the Bible reflects, in some ways, the character in Morrison's novel. In the bible, Hagar is Sarah's handmaiden. When she bares the son
Wars have been fought for many different reasons through the years, and that holds true for the American Civil War (1861-1865). In Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Killer Angels, the reasons for fighting the war are brought about through the officers and soldiers at a famous battle site of the Civil War, Gettysburg. Gettysburg was one of the most documented battles of the whole war. It took place over a span of three days and can be viewed as a turning point from Confederate prominence to Confederate demise. As in any conflict, there are two sides to the story. The Union and the Confederacy each had their own views as to why they were fighting the war. Victors write the history so too often only the Union side is
I agree with the Williams that when it comes to the black women culture, they sometimes turn to religion to her guide them. Many centuries again black women had a strong religious background. Hagar was indeed brave from leaving the harsh treatment that she was facing; however, I also had to agree with Williams that liberating herself was great, but she did not think about the consequences when she took those actions.
Hulga did not care about anyone else but herself. She lived in self-pity. There are many disabled kids, adults and veterans in the world. There are professional runners and people without limbs that work and do amazing things. Even though she had these issues she thought she was better and too good for everyone else. Mrs. Hopewell states that Hulga, “was brilliant but she didn’t have a grain of sense.”(O’Connor 558) Hulga even
Faced with the reality that neither of his daughters truly love and support him as they had claimed Lear says to Regan, "No, Regan, thou shalt never have my curse."(II.iv.170) After realizing her open lack of love for him Lear pleads to Regan and himself, "Thou better knowest/ The offices of nature, bond of childhood,/ Effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude./ Thy half of the kingdom hast thou not forgot,/ Wherein I thee endowed."(II.iv.177-181) Because Lear superficially asked his daughters to profess their love, he has now been deceived by their falsely promoted emotions and is impervious to the fact that his daughters have used him to obtain their own power and possessions. In the same way that Lear is blinded to the actions of his daughters because of his flaws, Hagar is blind to her own actions because she is too prideful. When Marvin and Doris try to explain that they are no longer able to provide Hagar with the care she needs Doris mentions that Hagar has been wetting her sheets. Struck by the accusation that she could be so irresponsible and not know about it Hagar says angrily, "That's a lie. I never did any such thing."(74) Even though Doris and Marvin both know that Hagar has been wetting her sheets every night, Hagar has too much pride to admit that she may have lost control of her own body. Evidently it is because of Hagar's pride that she will not acknowledge or admit to her unflattering actions. After recognizing the flaws of both King Lear and
Mormons use the name Elohim to refer to God. According to Terryl L. Givens in his book Wrestling the Angels, “The first verse of the Bible, however, employs a different name for the divine being-Elohim. The fact that Elohim appears as the divine name in the oldest portions of the Bible suggests its origin…” (117). The first verse of the bible says, “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (NIV). Givens goes on to say, “…(and that of its root, El) in pre-Israelite traditions, and Canaanite religion…Elohim, with its plural-im ending, may have been employed to emphasize his status as ‘God of gods,’ or ‘the highest God” (117).
“Fallen Angels”, written by Walter Dean Myers, is a novel that tells about the story of young boys going into battle during the Vietnam War. There are many themes in “Fallen Angels” but the main theme is the loss of innocence. The title makes reference to these themes. And the boys in the book have dreams of losing their virginity and drinking alcohol for the first time. They are thrown into a harsh reality when they are shown the trials of war. In the end, they understand that the movies that depict heroicness and honor are just images of a false idea; that war is full of chaos and horror.
Throughout the book, we learn from Ha that her father has been kidnapped and they don’t know what’s happened to him, so they choose to be optimistic and assume that he will somehow escape and come back to them. During the story, Ha seems to point out little things about her father in her time of need. She only knows only the few things that her mother tells her about her father and even then she tries to get more information by wishing for stories on her birthday
As Hagar’s love for Milkman grows more and more obsessive, Morrison reveals the bitter consequences of life as a woman seeking intimacy in a strictly patriarchal world. In the beginning of the novel, Hagar is associated primarily with her female relatives, Reba and Pilate. Even then, well-fed Hagar declares, “Some of my days were hungry
Hagar after knowing that she isn't love back led her to murder Milkman. When Milkman got tired of Hagar, who was not caring about him that much till then, started to have interest in him. As soon as she realize that she couldn’t get the love back from him, she tried to kill him. She tried to attempt the murder for “six times in as many months”(130), each time with different weapons but failed, but she would not give up because she didn't want him to leave her. Murder was the way that Hagar showed her affection toward Milkman because “He’s the one who’s tryin to take himself out of her life. And she’ll kill him before she lets him do that”(139) states the nature of loving that one will kill others to get love. In this case, Hagar tried to kill him because he is the one who is trying to leave her and only way she knew how to stop it was to kill him since she can't control his feeling toward her. Her
She expresses herself in ways that are more destructive. Violence is the outlet Hagar sees in expressing herself. Her “graveyard love” for Milkman initially mutes her voice (148). His goodbye letter “sent Hagar spinning into a bright blue place where the air was thin and it was silent all the time, and where people spoke in whispers or did not make sounds at all, and where everything was frozen except for an occasional burst of fire inside her chest” (116). Hagar is hardly aware of her own emotions and finds it impossible for her to tell Milkman how she feels because she has no identity. Instead, Hagar turns to physical violence. She was a “doormat wom[a]n” that “wanted to kill for love, die for love” (336). When she tries to kill Milkman, she finds herself “paralyzed” by her obsessive love for him (150). Like Ryna, her love left her. When Milkman left and “dreamt of flying, Hagar was dying” (363). Hagar’s extreme obsession ultimately turns self-destructive and assists to the cause of her death. She spends her last hours in a frantic search for clothes and cosmetics that will make Milkman love her again. She dies convinced that “he loves silky hair . . . penny-colored hair . . . and lemon-colored skin . . . and gray-blue eyes” unlike her own (346). To Hagar, her African-American race and body are worthless if they do not attract Milkman; she was trying to create “this ideal of beauty” that she could never have (Pereira). Hagar’s dependence on Milkman and
When she got home, Hagar found that she was not able to cry. "The night my son died I was transformed to stone and never wept at all" (243). Her pride leads her to become isolated, she never wants anyone to comfort, or help her. In addition, in the hospital Doris tells Hagar about an old friend and "I never realized until this moment how cut off I am." (294), is the
While watching the movie Iron Jawed Angels produced by Akatja Von Garnier, I experienced many emotions. I felt that this movie was incredibly moving and eye-opening. Some of the obstacles faced by the women in the film that particularly stood out, I will discuss throughout my response paper. The main obstacle the women faced was not having the right to vote. This was something Alice Paul and the rest of the suffragists fought so strongly for throughout the entire film. Women fighting for their right to vote meant standing outside of the White House picketing in any type of weather, being degraded by most men (including those who were in power), being spit on, and being abused mentally and physically. Standing up for the rights of women to most were seen as a joke and even women looked at Alice Paul as if she was crazy. What I see as crazy is the fact that the right for women to vote was ever questioned? It is still a mind-boggling piece of history, but is every influential.