The Stone Angel (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Margaret Laurence
- First Published: 1964
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Bildungsroman
- Time of Work: The 1870’s to the 1960’s
- Setting: The fictional town of Manawaka and Vancouver, British Columbia
- Principal Characters: Hagar Currie Shipley, Jason Currie, Matt, Brampton Shipley, Lottie Dreiser Simmons, Marvin Shipley, Doris Shipley, John Shipley, Murray Lees
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Bildungsroman, Family literature
- Subjects: Family or family life, Self-discovery, Memory, Mothers, Parents and children, Alienation, Guilt, Class consciousness, Emotions, Mental illness, Death or dying, Canada or Canadians, Small-town life, Old age or elderly people, Pretensions
- Locales: British Columbia, Canada, Vancouver, Canada
Form and Content
Margaret Laurence’s The Stone Angel is told through Hagar’s ninety-year-old eyes, with small events triggering flashbacks that reveal her history. The novel’s title is explained in the opening pages: The stone angel was a monument erected by Hagar’s father for his wife, who died giving birth to Hagar. Intended to impress, the angel is doubly blind: Made of unfeeling stone, she is also eyeless, and harkens people to heaven without knowing them. As Hagar’s narrative reveals, she has similar faults: Her pride and her unswerving sense of...
[The entire page is 2481 words long]
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