The story centers around ninety year old Hagar Shipley, an aging woman living with her eldest and least love son and his wife. Margaret Laurence skilfully reveals Hagar's past through a series of flashbacks and the reader is taken on a tour of this woman's life as she struggles with her present failing condition and her anger and resentments about the past.

We learn that Hagar inherited many of her harsh qualities from her strong, unyielding father. Her father, Jason Currie was one of the first settlers of the town and she inherited his stubborn resolve and temper which have dogged her all her life. Her frozen exterior was the result of the inheritance of pride, she had received from her father, a pride that feared any weakening of her status. For this reason she despis

The main burden of the novel is the change which comes to Hagar as a person. At the end her hardness melts and her egocentrism softens, in this way establishing a redemptive pattern for the novel. In the final analysis there is a sense of pathos in our attitudes towards her.

ed weakness of any form. Although she often felt love and happiness, she refused to show it fearing that it might be viewed by others as a weakness. She resisted all notion of giving voice to the emotion that welled within her. She regarded such expression as "betrayal", to be resisted and tamed. She didn't cry at the death of her husband or son. Her heart was moved often, but her tongue was firmly ruled by her unbending pride giving no expression to the passion she felt. Over-zealous attention to past glories of the Currie name led her astray and led her i

Some common words found in the essay are:
Jason Currie, I've Hagar, Margaret Laurence, Hagar Shipley, son wife, hagar shipley, stubborn resolve,
Approximate Word count = 563
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)