Hagar Shipley’s quest in The Stone Angel In Margaret Laurence’s The Stone Angel, Hagar Shipley tells the story of her life and by doing so, she tries to come to term with how the qualities that helped her have also stripped her of her joy all throughout her life. She then hopes to get a deeper understanding of herself and the notion of acceptance. So to say, The Stone Angel recollects Hagar’s lifelong road towards self-understanding and freedom. In this essay, I will begin by doing a retrospect of Hagar’s life and then analysing the obstacles that came in the way of her quest all through the end of her life. As said before, lets make a brief retrospect (of the major elements that marked her life) of Hagar Shipley’s life in order to see her personality traits. First of all, she was raised according to the strict values of her father, Jason Currie. When Hagar was younger, her father applied severe control over her and taught her the importance of hard work and self-reliance, all of which contributed to Hagar’s sense of independence and cold personality later on in life. After her basic schooling, Hagar had the “privilege” of attending the ladies’ academy in Toronto where she was taught to be polite, elegant and mature. Her father had chosen her of all his children to acquire a higher education because he thought that she was the only one who was worth it. So, we can speculate that Jason Currie saw his own qualities reflect in Hagar. Her attendance there proved that a certain sense of independence and strong will were very present. But at the academy, as in her younger age, she felt superior to the other ladies. Just like her father, Jason Currie, Hagar is very egotistical. She has a strong character and so she is able to defy her father’s rules. Throughout her life, it always seem as though Hagar wants to escape. First, she tries to escape her father to go marry Brampto...
