The Stone Angel Lesson Plan

Why is Hagar so critical of the young girl playing house? What can this scene tell us how she feels about her past? How does Hagar try to hide these feelings in her narration?

Hagar is irrationally critical of the young girl. Students might infer, then, that Hagar is projecting: perhaps she feels that she was too critical of Bram or, more likely, of John. Underneath this bitterness one can surmise a layer of remorse and guilt when she says, “watch out, you’ll lose him.” It is important that students learn to read this narrative formulation -- in which emotional clarity and vulnerability is masked by critique and spite -- and are able to extrapolate the underlying...