The first instance in which we see Hagar's failure is in her quest to make something of herself. It all started when her father wanted her to go to school because "there's no woman here to teach you how to dress and behave like a lady."(42) At first Hagar did not want to go to school but her father convinced her to go. It ended up being a good thing for Hagar because it made her realize that she wanted to become a teacher. Her father was pleased with what she had become, "It was worth every penny for the two years."(43) Her father said, "You're a credit to me"(43), when he told her that she was going to keep his accounts. She expressed to him "I want to teach"(43). But he did not want his daughter to work in a "one-room school," he wanted her to stay. "I did not go out teaching. I stayed and kept my father's accounts, p

Hagar had two sons with Bram, John and Marvin. John was her favourite son, and the only person that she never isolated herself from. John, however, learned from his mother how to isolate himself from others. Then in turn isolated himself from his mother in instances when he had to tell her about things other people said about his father; "And then he cried. But when I tried to put an arm around him, he pulled away, clattered upstairs to his room and locked the door"(131). Hagar thought that her other son Marvin was a bad son. She thought of Marvin more as Bram's son than hers; " for he spent more time outside with Bram, and after he went to school I seemed to see very little of him except at summer and the hour he spent doing homework at the kitchen table."(113) Years later she thought that he and his wife Doris just wanted to take her from her house and put her in a home. Doris was a caring woman who Hagar hated. She hated her because she meant "dependence" and Hagar wanted "independence." Hagar shows us why she thinks that Doris feels that she needed help all the time when she says, "The door to my room has no lock. They say it is because I might get taken ill in the night, an then how could they get in to tend me"(6). She feels that she I treated like a chore for Doris and hates her for it. Hagar failed to accept people. She always found reasons to not have healthy relationships with friends, family, and anyone she knew for that matter.

At the end of the novel, when it is Hagar's time to die, she reflects back on life and wishes she had been there more for the people to which she was close. Hagar finally starts to make peace with herself but it is too late for her to feel redeemed. Now that it was her turn to go, she wanted all her family there. When she died, the only one there was Doris, the one she hated. She had one last struggle with her and then passed away. Not in a peaceful way but fighting, as she had done throughout the novel.

Hagar went on for years not being truly happy with her choices,

Some common words found in the essay are:
Hagar Shipley, Hagar Doris, Marvin Hagar, Marvin Bram's, Marvin John, Auntie Doll, Stone Angel, healthy relationships, hagar shipley, Hager Hagar, die peace, choices past, son marvin, people close, auntie doll, throughout novel, stone angel,
Approximate Word count = 1387
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)