The Stone Angel Novel

Chapter 1

1. Describe the stone angel. What connotations or feeling can be associated with it?
2. What is Hagar’s present position in the household?
3. What remembrance does she have of her father?
4. On page 28, Hagar says, “I can manage quite well.” What does this reveal about her?
5. What are Marvin and Doris planning? What is Hagar’s reaction?
6. What is revealed about Hagar’s character by her refusal to put the shawl on for Dan?
   Hagar refuses to put the shawl on because it was her mother’s shawl. Hagar sees her mother as being weak due to the fact that she had died during childbirth. Hagar wants nothing that would suggest that she was weak in any way. By wearing the shawl, Hagar would feel as though she was like her mother, or at least seen as being like her mother. After all, this is the point of her wearing the shawl. In addition, Hagar does not understand why her brother is not fighting death. Hagar feels her brother is weak as well. She does not understand how her other brother is willing to condone the weakness and support it. Hagar cannot be part of this. In some ways it is not certain that Hagar even realizes these aspects about herself. Hagar indicates this for us as well, through her confusion around her inability to accommodate the request.

Chapter 2

1. What do we learn of Bram Shipley? What sort of husband is he? What sort of wife is she?

Chapter 3

1. What opportunity to show affection does Hagar miss on p. 87?

Chapter 4

1. Discuss Hagar’s relationship with: a) Marvin b) John c) Bram

Chapter 5

1. What symbolic significance is there in the appearance of the house at the shore?

Chapter 6

1. In what condition do they find the stone angel? What is the significance of this?

Chapter 7

1. Why is Hagar critical of the little girl at the beach? How does this relate to her own life? Why does she say she may have underestimated them?

Chapter 8

1. With whom does Hagar confuse Murray Lees at the end of the chapter? What does he say that makes her content?

Chapter 9/10

1. At the very end, Hagar says she can recall only two “truly free” acts she has done in her ninety years, both of them recent one was a joke and one was a lie. Explain each act and its significance.

Sample Solution