English Language Arts A30 Character Study

The Stone Angel is a novel told from the point of view of an old woman, Hagar Shipley, as she looks back on her life. Hagar Shipley is a proud, stubborn, and inconsiderate character, but as she reminisces, she finds she regrets many of the paths she chose and the values she held as important. From the beginning of the book, Hagar possesses a pride in herself that she retains throughout the story. She is born into a wealthy and respectable family, and learns to hold these things in great esteem. One of her school-mates has no known father and Hagar finds it funny when she is called no-name ottie!. She also refers to some of the townspeople as half-breeds!" this is a term that is commonly used by many, but even as Hagar grows up, she continues using the term in a degrading manner. Hagar was also very proud of her personal appearance and conscious of how others perceived her. She is seemingly constantly embarrassed by her husband, but she is insulted beyond repair one day in the store that used to be her fathers. #t the store, Hagar finds out that $ram has been selling lemon e%tract to &ndians as alcohol. She marches out of the store with him and ... that was the last time we ever walked anywhere together, $rampton Shipley and myself.! ' aurence, The Stone Angel, p.()*+ ,hough Hagar was right to be angry, her pride did not allow her to forgive her husband and she left him soon after. -hen Hagar is in the present, and not daydreaming of the past, she harbours this thought, which shows that she regrets her past cares about what others thought. et them talk. -hat do & care now what people say/ & cared too long.! 'p.(*+ Stubbornness is another trait that surfaces often in Hagar0s character. ,his is a trait that she inherits from her father, and the two often find themselves at loggerheads with each other. Once, when Hagar0s father is disciplining her by slapping her wrists, Hagar refuses to cry, and her father doesn0t wish to stop until she does. Her father begins feeling guilty and stops, but Hagar remains unforgiving and unrepentant. Hagar never gave up fighting her father. -hen her father tried to bring suitable men home for her to consider, she snubbed the lot of them! ' aurence, The Stone Angel, p.12+ She married $rampton Shipley instead, rushing into the marriage so that she would be free from her father. 3ven in her old age, Hagar continues to feel the need to do things her way. She is nearly always fighting her son and daughter-in-law, doctors, and others who try to help her. However, she does try to accept the help at times, instead of habitually fighting it. #s an old lady, she inwardly reminds herself to accept help, but often seems to forget, when the time comes, to accept it. ,he final trait that is seen fre4uently in Hagar is her being inconsiderate. #s a young girl, she is rude to her family members and school-mates and she continues in this way, never being able to put herself in another person0s shoes. -hen she makes a hasty match with $ram, she assures herself that her father would approve of her husband ... when he saw how $rampton Shipley prospered, gentled, learned cravats and grammar.! ' aurence, The Stone Angel, p.5*+. Hagar doesn0t take $ram0s views into consideration in her plan to change him. ,he most careless and damaging thing she did was to favour her younger son, 6ohn, over the elder, 7arvin. Hagar damaged her relationships with both sons. &f she was inconsiderate in her past, then she could be downright miserly as an old woman. She was nearly always forming negative opinions of the people around her, and very often voicing them. -hen people around her try to help her in her failing health, she is resistant and ungrateful to them. 8earing the end of the novel, however, after a long time of pondering the past, Hagar improves in her treatment of others. #s she spends her last days in the hospital, she is usually very empathetic towards those around her, and makes a real effort to be kind. Hagar even makes amends with her son, 7arvin, and does so not for her own peace, but for his. She says to him that all along, he has been the better son, but to herself, she thinks, 7arvin, looking at me from an%ious elderly eyes, believes me. &t doesn0t occur to him that a person in my place would ever lie.! 'p. *(9+

#fter pondering her past, Hagar Shipley begins to feel remorse in all of the ways she has failed. Of her many character traits, pride, stubbornness, and inconsideration are what led to the falls that leave her reminiscing in regret as an elderly lady in her last days.