The Stone Angel Literary Elements

Fiction

Early 1960s, fictional rural town of Manawaka, Canada

First-person singular, through the point of view of Hagar Currie Shipley

Dark and pessimistic with florid imagery.

Protagonist: Hagar. Antagonist: Concretely, Jason Currie and Bram Shipley; conceptually, Hagar's own pride and shortcomings.

The 90-year-old Hagar's health and memory are failing, and she is facing the consequences of a lifetime of negative and antagonistic conduct toward others. She learns that her son and daughter-in-law plan to place her in a nursing home, so she runs away.

Hagar is found and brought to the hospital. There, she is helped and nursed by some of the people she has abused and must come to terms with her imminent death.

When Hagar's brother becomes sick after falling into cold water, Hagar refuses to nurse him or take care of him. By the end of the novel, she herself is helpless and in need of care.

"I can't say I like it, or accept it, or believe it's for the best." Here, Hagar understates her extreme difficulty coming to terms with the way her life has turned out.

There are many Biblical allusions, such as to Job (40) or to Lucifer (111), in order to describe people or situations.

See the separate "Imagery" section of this ClassicNote.

Though Hagar initially marries Bram out of prideful rebellion against her father, her status as his wife deprives her of the money and class privilege her pride demands.

The gradual erosion of the stone angel by the water and wind parallels Hagar's gradual erosion by life.

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