Hagar's son, Ishmael, mocked Sarah's child. Nearing death, Hagar and her son were saved by God who provided them with a well of water. The Hagar in The Stone Angel is very similar to the Hagar in the bible. Laurence's Hagar became a housekeeper to Bram after she married him, which is ironic for a woman with her qualities. Hagar realizes this and sees herself as a bondwoman (this is also how the biblical Hagar is described); therefore, she feels trapped like a prisoner. Hagar says, "I was alone, never anything else, and never free, for I carried my chains within me," (pg. 261) thus showing Hagar as a captive of her position, emotions, and her pride. The two Hagars are also very similar in that they both go into the wilderness. Hagar Shipley goes out into the wilderness when she leaves her father to marry Bram and live on his farm. The difference between the two Hagars if that Hagar Shipley is not confronted by a divine manifestation like the Egyptian Hagar. Hagar's vision and realization comes when she and her favored son, John, leave home. Hagar slowly begins to see John's true character. Hagar Shipley wished her son was like Jacob, a faithful son in the Old Testament; however, she soon realized that he was not like Jacob. When Hagar returned to Manawaka, the statue of the stone angel had been pushed over and she requested that her son, John, fix it. Hagar says, "I wish he could have looked like Jacob then, wrestling with the angel and besting it, wringing a blessing from it with his might. But no." (pg. 159). Hagar's second journey into the wilderness was when she fled to Shadow Point. Here, Hagar realized that her other son, Marvin, was her Jacob and that she had favored the wrong son. The Hagar in the Old Testament bore a wild son, Ishmael, but she also created a faithful son, Jacob (descendent of Isaac). The parallels between The Stone Angel and the biblical Hagar are so strong that the effectiveness of Margaret Lauren...
