Free Manawaka Essays and Papers

The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence is a heart-warming story of a ninety year old woman who is nearing death and who has very little to look back on with pride. Her life had been ruled by her concern of outward appearances and manners. Although she often felt love and happiness, she refused to show it fearing it may be viewed by others as a weakness. Hagar inherited this strong pride from her father, Jason Currie, along with other poor qualities

The Stone Angel, The Fire-Dwellers, and The Diviners There are always problems in every relationship, in every marriage. With strong communication, acceptance and a love for one another, these challenges can be overcome. In Margaret Laurence's Manawaka Cycle, the characters all have enormous problems in their relationships. In the books The Stone Angel, The Fire-Dwellers, and The Diviners, the characters' marriages all have varying degrees of trouble. However, through hard work and perseverance

Hagar says, "...in memory of her who relinquished her feeble ghost as I gained my stubborn one, my mother's angel that my father bought to make her bones and proclaim his dynasty, as he fancied, forever and a day...She was not the only angel in the Manawaka cemetery, but she was the first, the largest, and certainly the costliest." (1-2). Hagar takes great pride in her family from this angel. It is a marker of her family's name that will be kept throughout the ages. When the angel has been vandalized

The stone angel is a symbolism for Hagar Shipley in the form of her character, and the way she displays no emotions, similar to a stone angel. Also, the position of the angel in the cemetery reveals Hagar’s high self-esteem and pride by the towering position of the angel overlooking the town. Moreover, the stone angel’s features represent Hagar in other ways; they include the missing eyes, the hardness of her personality, and Hagar’s lack of motherly affection for her first born child. The symbolism

symbolized by the blindness of the angel. The stone angel is symbolic of the Currie family pride and values.  The stone angel memorial is purchased and brought from Italy by Jason Currie at great expense and placed at the grave site of his wife, in the Manawaka cemetery.  The stone angel is the largest and most expensive memorial in the cemetery.  Although the stone angel is intended to be a memorial for Mrs. Currie, it was not really suitable because Hagar describes her as being meek and a feeble ghost

External Appearances in The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence It is common in society for individuals to look no further than the external appearance of others. This is also true in many novels, such as The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence. Margaret Laurence shows this by using imagery. Imagery is employed in the novel to help intensify the significance of important events and circumstances of the novel. Margaret Laurence used flower and water imagery in her novel The Stone Angel to represent

had begun without money" (14). Hagar's father, because he worked so hard, took great pleasure in his store. She says, "Father took such pride in the store - you'd have thought it was the only one on earth. It was the first in Manawaka, so I guess he had due cause. He would lean across the counter, spreading his hands, and smile so wonderfully you'd feel he welcomed the world" (9). Mr. Currie had excessive self-esteem, as seen when the Reverend Dougall MacCulloch

unjustness of old age. Once proud and independent, she now needs to be taken care of by her son Marvin, who she never loved. As the book begins, the readerÕs first glimpse is of that of the stone angel.  "She was not the only angel in the Manawaka cemetery, but she was the first, the largest, and certainly the costliest." A unsuitable memorial of her mother for she was thought of as a "feeble ghost." It seems rather to represent Mr. Currie and Hager, both strong and full of pride. It was

is to honour Hagar's 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 "practical". 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. Currie's] 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

name evokes a series of emotion within the reader.  Due to her crass nature and uncompromising pride, one questions if the prestigious background of the Currie clan sculpted such.  In addition, during her young life set in the nineteenth century Manawaka society, a high importance was placed on social status.  This feeling of superiority over others traveled with Hagar into womanhood.  Although it may be argued that one possess the ability to control her own existence, when the intricate web of elements