Symbolism In The Stone Angel Essay Research
Symbolism In The Stone Angel Essay, Research Paper
A symbol is a literary device used by the writer to portray an thought to the reader. In Margaret Laurence & # 8217 ; s, The Stone Angel, the rock angel is a symbol used to rise the reader & # 8217 ; s apprehension of the features of Hagar Shipley. First, the rock angel is used to demo Hagar & # 8217 ; s pride in the Currie household name. She prizes the rock angel because it is expensive and imported from Italy to honor a female parent Hagar ne’er knew. Similarly, the rock angel is symbolic of Hagar & # 8217 ; s inability to demo emotions ; like the angel, Hagar is difficult and cold. Last, the angel is symbolic of Hagar & # 8217 ; s sightlessness, merely as the angel ; Hagar is double unsighted. The symbolism of the rock angel is first apparent in Hagar & # 8217 ; s pride in the Currie household name.
The rock angel is symbolic of Hagar & # 8217 ; s amour propre in her family name. Hagar values the angel because it is an emblem of the Currie household. The angel was purchased by Hagar & # 8217 ; s male parent to honor her female parent, but it appears more to honor their name than anything else. Hagar says, & # 8220 ; & # 8230 ; in memory of her who relinquished her lame shade as I gained my obstinate one, my female parent & # 8217 ; s angel that my male parent bought to do her castanetss and proclaim his dynasty, as he fancied, everlastingly and a twenty-four hours & # 8230 ; She was non the lone angel in the Manawaka graveyard, but she was the first, the largest, and surely the costliest. & # 8221 ; ( 1-2 ) . Hagar takes great pride in her household from this angel. It is a marker of her household & # 8217 ; s name that will be kept throughout the ages. When the angel has been vandalized, Hagar has John aid her push it back into topographic point and clean it off. Hagar, through get marrieding Bram Shipley has disgraced the Currie name. The angel being vandalized slso fails to honor the household. Both seem to hold lost face. The symbol of the rock angel is further used to reflect Hagar & # 8217 ; s inability to demo emotions.
Hagar is unable to demo how she feels, or relate to other people. Just like the angel Hagar has become difficult and dogged. The rock angel is made of difficult, cold marble, doing it strong and stiff. Like the angel, Hagar Shipley is cool and impermeable towards the universe. She ne’er reveals her true feelings to the people she knows because she sees this as a hazard of being thought of as & # 8216 ; soft & # 8217 ; . This facet of Hagar & # 8217 ; s personality is best shown when her boy John dies. Hagar says, & # 8220 ; The dark my boy died I was transformed to lapidate and ne’er cry at all. When the minist
ering adult females handed me the cup of hot java, they murmured how good I was taking it, and I could merely look at them dry-eyed from a great distance and non state a individual word.” ( 264 ) Hagar is so unable to demo her emotions that even when her boy dies she dare non cry. Like the rock angel she is unaffected. She fears that if she turns to the adult females around her for aid she will be seen as some delicate, incapacitated animal. Hagar’s imperturbability and hardness like that of the marble angel, is farther shown when Bram’s favourite Equus caballus dies ; Hagar is upset for him, cognizing how much the Equus caballus means to Bram. Yet, Hagar refuses to soothe him. Finally, the rock angel is symbolic of Hagar’s sightlessness.
The rock angel of the Currie household is double blind ; this is because the creative person neglected to add orbs to its well-defined face. This is symbolic of Hagar because she is unsighted to those around her. It is this sightlessness that causes Hagar to neglect to acknowledge the fact that Marvin is the boy that she seeks. From the birth of John, Hagar has ever prized him as the boy who will travel on to do something of himself, who will make something with his life. In the terminal, nevertheless, John becomes more like Bram, as Marvin additions himself a occupation and place in life. Hagar & # 8217 ; s blindness supports her from recognizing this until one twenty-four hours she has a battle with John, and he says, & # 8220 ; You ever wager on the incorrect Equus caballus & # 8230 ; Marv was your male child, but you ne’er saw that, did you? & # 8221 ; ( 258 ) Hagar is ne’er able to see Marvin as the successful boy, even after John & # 8217 ; s decease. Hagar & # 8217 ; s sightlessness is farther apparent by the fact that she ne’er additions a friendly relationship with Lottie. It is non until it is excessively late that Hagar realizes that she has much in common with Lottie. Like the rock angel, Hagar stares blankly into the faces of those around her and ne’er has an thought of what is genuinely traveling on.
A symbol is a concrete object used to rise a reader & # 8217 ; s apprehension of a character. In Margaret Laurence & # 8217 ; s, The Stone Angel, the symbol of Hagar & # 8217 ; s female parent & # 8217 ; s sculpt marker, a rock angel, is used to exemplify facets of Hagar & # 8217 ; s personality. The rock angel is symbolic of Hagar & # 8217 ; s pride in the Currie name, her inability to demo emotions, and her sightlessness to those around her. Through the usage of the rock angel Laurence portrays in Hagar a realistic and interchangeable character.
Bibliography
Laurence, Margaret. The Stone Angel. Canada: McClelland & A ; Stewart Inc. , 1964.
