The Imagery of the Stone Angel :: Stone Angel

The Imagery of the Stone Angel In her novel, The Stone Angel, Margaret Laurence successfully uses the statue of the stone angel to rede the Currie family dress, Hagars inability to relate and share her emotions, and the blindness and ignorance that results from refusing to consider whatsoever other point of view than your own.             The Stone angel is symbolic of the Currie family pride because it does not bet to serve its purpose, which is to honour Hagars mother who had died giving birth to her. Hagar describes Mrs. Currie to be a meek woman and a feeble ghost, whereas she describes herself to be stubborn and matter-of-fact. The statue was bought in Italy and brought to the Manawaka cemetery at a terrible expense . . . in pride to mark her bones and proclaim his Mr. Curries dynasty, as he fancied, forever and a day (p. 3). Mr. Currie bought the angel in pride rather than in grief for someone he considdered his possesion, his dynasty. The stone angel is also a symbol of Hagars pride as she inherrited it from her father. It was this pride that kept her from speaking up and fighting for her brother when Mr. Currie sent her away to college to become more civilized. She knew Matt deserved to go more than her, but she never stuck up for either him or herself. In an attempt at freedom, or maybe just to spite her father, Hagar married Bram Shipley concisely after she came back from school. From day one, Hagars marriage to Bram was a complete embarrassment to her and her family When id listen to Bram spinning his cobwebs, then it would turn my stomach most of all, not what he said but that he made himself a laughingstock (p. 114). Upon hearing ab place their plans to wed, Hagars father disowns her. Bram was not a rich man by any means, he drank heavily, always spoke in slang, and caused a scene on a regular basis. Hagar thought shed be able to change him and coax him out of his wild ways, but when he proved her wrong, she just accepted the fact that shed have to live with it or lie about it to save face. When applies for a commerce to get away from Mananawka and her husband, she lies to her boss as to her real relationship with Bram.