Bram Shipely Essay, Research Paper
Bram Shipely
A character who stood for the average middle class man of the time. Bram was rejected by the citizens of Manawak. For if Hagar could have her way, Bram would have been a different man.
In the novel Margaret Laurance describes the character with a rough exterior with a soft heart. Laurance was successful in representing “the living individual” in this case. Bram was a hard worker when he wanted to be, but his theory in life, take what you need, not what you want really helped explain his values in life. This also limited his success.
Bram like most humans close the door on problems facing him. Instead of confronting them Bram would turn away. Bram also had many problems like most men, his biggest one was alcohol. Bram would drink with his buddy’s and then stay in his barn when his drunkenness was not accepted in the house. This problem also led to his death.
Bram didn’t care if he affected other people and wouldn’t let other people affect his beliefs. This was also from a man who would choose love over money. This is evident when he chooses between farming and breeding saddle horses. Bram says “let somebody else cash in … I got enough to buy what I want.” (pg. 23)
Margaret does an excellent job of representing an individual in this case. She relates him to many aspects of life and how people live. She also represents the common man with this character. Margaret does an excellent job of expressing her personality in this novel.
Theme
“The soul is born old, but grows young. That is the comedy of life. The body is born young but grows old. That’s life’s tragedy.”
This quote is very powerful in relation to the novel. I feel this quote relates to Hagar. When we are young we are very closed minded about what we think and what others think about us. When we grow old we come to realize it’s not about other’s it’s about who you really are. When we finally realize this, so much of our life has passed us by we cannot take full advantage of our life.
Hagar is very closed minded when she is young. She carries a great deal of pride and feels she can change people into how she want’s them to be. This is evident in her marriage to Bram. She thought she could change him, but he also thought he could change Hagar.
When Hagar grows older she begins to expect the life she lived was that of which she didn’t like. By swallowing her pride she thanks her son and tells him how much he has meant to her. Hagar died spiturally before dieing in a living sense. I feel the quote relates to the books and what the author is trying to say in the novel.
Setting
The sense of place in The Stone Angel is very strong. The author Margaret Laurence uses a lot of imaginary to describe where the novel takes place, what it’s like and the people of the town. Like a lot of other books the setting is relevant in the book.
Margaret Laurence puts the bases of the book in a small town setting then almost present day west coast. The setting of the book plays a major role on how we precede the characters in the book. Margaret sets a laid back tore in the book in which all the characters flow into.
When reading the book we see how the author uses imaginary. We see this at the first of the novel when Hagar is explaining her walk through the cemetery.
“In the summer the cemetery was rich and thick as syrup with the funeral-parlor perfume of the planted peonies, dark crimson and wall paper pink … where the prairie bluffs were waked through only by Cree with enigmatic faces and greasy hair” (pg. 4-5). This quote gives us a strong sense of what is seeing. The author used many techniques in showing a strong sense of place in the novel.
Style
Style is defined as “any specific way of using language which is characteristic of an author, school, period or genre. Particular styles may be defined by their diction, syntax, images and uses of figures or by any other linguistic feature.”
I found that Margaret Laurence used a lot of imagery in reference to scenery and biblical. Laurance often interrupts a mental picture in one’s head with a change of events in the story. Laurence often went into great detail when describing events which took place in The Stone Angel.
Laurence used a great deal of reference to the past. Laurence liked to paint picture’s in the readers head of what was happening in the novel. I also found that in the novel Margaret Laurence told many stories within other stories in relation to describe a character’s personality.
Margaret Laurence has a great style of writing where everything comes together through out the book. This is why this novel is considered one of the greatest Canadian Literature Novels written and most likely why even three decades after this book was written thousands of people read it yearly.