n her. Finally, she tries to escape death. All of these attempts fail. As I have mentioned earlier, I believe that it was Hagar’s pride that took out the joy in her life. Beginning very early in Hagar’s life, she learns of her father’s pride and self-esteem and learns to do the same. When Hagar began to make her own decisions in life, it became evident that she too made every decision based on egotism. She did exactly what she wanted to do, even if she knew it wasn’t right either (like marrying Bram).In her middle age, Hagar showed her strong sense of pride occasionally. For instance, she lied to her employer saying that she was a widow because she didn’t want to embarrass herself with stories of her past husband. She also discourages her son John from marrying Arlene (Lottie’s daughter) because she still considered herself to be better than Lottie, or even better than anyone. There is also a strong sense of pride at her son John’s funeral, for Hagar refuses to cry; “I wouldn‘t cry in front of strangers, whatever it cost me“ (Laurence, 242). As she gets older, her outlook on life gets darker as her pride becomes the most dominant emotion of he personality. Despite the new self-awareness that she acquired towards the end of her life, she still has her pride as shown in the next passage: “Bless me or not, Lord, just as you please, for I’ll not beg”. Therefore, she isn’t willing to give up her dignity and beg even when she could need some sort of help. However, her strong willed mentality gets opposed to her weak body and so her pride takes a strain. When her physical pain has gone, her pride and independence all comes back rushing in. At the end of her life, Hagar realizes and understands what her ego did to her and to her family. She sees that she has been living by the standards of other people all of her life. She feels that she hasnR...
