Through the character Hagar Currie Shipley from the novel "The Stone Angel" by Margaret Laurence and Edgar Gallant, we can see that life experience and religion have certain affects on people which may change as they grow older

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    Through the character Hagar Currie Shipley from the novel “The Stone Angel” by Margaret Laurence and Edgar Gallant, we can see that life experience and religion have certain affects on people which may change as they grow older. Those impacts can be for the good or the bad. These decisions are made by the people who experience something so great that had changed their minds. When someone goes thought something that might have changed their lives then they sometimes become a different person.  Hagar Shipley is often found in contact with her past but not with her emotions. She had been thought a lot in her life and one thing was holding her back which lead her to make the decisions she did.  On the other hand, Edgar Gallant, uses his emotions to share his past with his relatives and loved ones. Being this way Edgar became the person he is now. These two people are unique in their own ways but they still have certain similarities with their lives experiences. First Paragraph       Hagar Shipley’s life experience has an important affect on her present self since she keeps on leaving the present whenever she feels uncomfortable. In her old age, she escapes the present through daydreaming and wanders around in her past in search of a situation where she had control instead of having to deal with the present situation. For example when Hagar is given Barium by the doctor at the hospital and she is wondering what will happen next: “I’ve waited like this, for things to get better of worse, many and many a time. I should be used to it. So many years I waited at the Shipley’s place…” We see here that Hagar does not feel comfortable in the present being given a substance she does not know. Therefore Hagar leaves the present in search of a situation she has been in previously where she knows what will happen. Hagar does not only escape from the present mentally but also physically. Even though Hagar is a very proud woman, she becomes
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progressively more powerless to care for herself and therefore becomes an unbearable tension on her son, Marvin and his wife, Doris. This tension becomes even worst as she takes a trip away from home leaving them stranded, not knowing where she has disappeared: “Oh dear, you threw an awful scare into us. Why should you go and do such a thing, anyway, mother? When I came back from the store, and found you weren't there, I nearly when out of my mind. Its been so worrying for us, and we felt so awful, having to go to the police. They ...

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