The Stone Angel Test.

Multiple Choice

1.  What did Hagar ask Mr. Troy to do for her?

  1. Get her a glass of water.

b.  Sing her a hymn.

  1. Give her a Bible.
  2. Tell her the story of Jacob.

2.  What does Hagar realize she has never done throughout her life?

  1. Gone skydiving.

b.  Simply rejoiced.

  1. Forgiven John for dying.
  2. Prayed.

3.  What does the nurse do to Hagar after she discovers her walking about at night?

  1. She hits her over the head with a bedpan.
  2. She fetches her slippers.

c.  She put a bed-jacket on her.

  1. She takes her to the bathroom.

4.  What is the name of the man Tina is to marry?

  1. Andrew.
  2. Steven.
  3. Scott.

d.  August.

5.  Why is Sandra angry at Hagar after waking up?

  1. Because Hagar is going to die.

b.  Because Hagar lied about the surgery.

  1. Because Hagar was gossiping behind her back.
  2. Because the nurses wouldn’t give her a bedpan and she blamed Hagar.

6.  What kind of marble was used for the Stone Angel?

  1. Greek.
  2. Mexican.

c.  Italian.

  1. French.

7.  People told Hagar that the old people live in the _____ ?

  1. The future.

b.  The past.

  1. The present.
  2. Space.

8.  What did Dan, Hagar’s brother, die of?

a.  Pneumonia.

  1. Falling through ice.
  2. Frost bite.
  3. Being hit by a train.

9.  What did Matt buy with his savings?

  1. A boat.
  2. A new car.

c.  A fighting cock.

  1. A university education.

10.  What does Bram buy Hagar for a wedding gift?

a.  A cut-glass decanter.

  1. A horse.
  2. A china set.
  3. A sun dress.

11.  Where does Hagar go when she leaves Marvin and Doris?

  1. Shady Lane.
  2. Fundy Park.

c.  Shadow Point.

  1. The Point.

12.  What does Bram tell Hagar to take with her on the train?

  1. Extra socks.

b.  Hard boiled eggs.

  1. Water.
  2. Sandwiches.

13.  What does Hagar buy at the store near her destination?

a.  Swiss cheese triangles.

  1. Liquor.
  2. Paper.
  3. Water.

14.  Where does John go when he cannot find work?

  1. The cannery.
  2. Marvin’s house.
  3. Chicago.

d.  Manawaka.

15.  What does John give Bram when he is dying?

a.  Alcohol.

  1. Morphine.
  2. Advil.
  3. Tylenol.

16.  “Water, water everywhere…” (186) is from what poem?

a.  The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

  1. To A Mouse.
  2. Ozymandias.
  3. Kubla Khan.

17.  How did Murray Lees son die?

  1. By train.

b.  By fire.

  1. By Sword fight.
  2. Murder

18.  How does Hagar’s son John die?

a.  By train.

  1. Overdose.
  2. Shark attack.
  3. Sword fight.

19.  Mrs. Jardine is from…

a.  The prairies.

  1. Manawaka.
  2. Europe.
  3. Africa.

20.  Bram could only call Hagar…

  1. Wife.
  2. Honey.
  3. Sunshine.

d.  Hagar.

Short Answer

1.  What are the two free acts that Hagar has done in the past ninety years?

-The two free acts Hagar accomplished were quite recent and both took place in the hospital. The first was fetching a bedpan for Sandra when the nurse couldn’t. The second act was telling a lie to Marvin. She told him that he was the better son, when in her heart she knew he wasn’t.

2.  What was Hagar’s reason for marrying Bram?

-Hagar married Bram mostly to aggravate her father. She felt he controlled her life and she wanted to do something to rebel against his power. Another reason she could have married Bram could be that she was actually attracted to him, and his rugged handsomeness.

3.  Who do you think knocked over the Stone Angel? John or Bram? Give reasons

why.

John

·  He was not surprised when he and Hagar visited the cemetery and saw the angel toppled over.

·  John did not care if the angel ever stood again but eventually stood it up out of pride.

·  The lipstick on the angels face could be Arlene’s. John could have taken it from her.

·  John may have tipped it over while drunk and wanted revenge on his mother for not allowing John to know his father for the man he was.

Bram

·  Bram may have toppled the angel over when he was drunk and angry over Hagar leaving him.

·  Bram could of did it because he was tired of never being good enough for Hagar because her father made her stone hearted and he could never do anything good enough for her.

4.  What was Murray F. Lees drinking when he and Hagar first met?

- When we first meet Murray, he stumbles into the fish cannery carrying a wine bottle. This is what he was drinking and he later decides to share with Hagar.

Long Answer

1.  Hagar has a great disgust for weak people. Use examples and show how she deals with it.

-Hagar began her dislike of weakness at a very young age. When she was born her mother relinquished her feeble ghost to let her live. Hagar has no understanding of weakness until it overcomes her in her old age. Since Hagar cannot deal with weakness, that becomes her weakness. When she couldn’t bring herself to kill the suffering chicks, Lottie did. She let her weakness get the better of her and let’s someone else take over. Another such instance is when Hagar is in the hospital and Sandra is in her bed crying. Sandra is weeping because she needs a bedpan and cannot reach one. Hagar, after avoiding the weak, finally helps the weak. Since Hagar is weak herself, she can relate to Sandra. Hagar gets out of bed and gets Sandra a bedpan, putting aside her own pain to help someone else. Throughout Hagar’s life she avoids weak people; she lets other people take care of it. However, once she sees the window from the opposite pane, she relates to the weak and finds herself trying to help them once she is truly weak.

2.  What is the symbolism to Hagar and in general of the flowers in the first chapter?

-The flowers in The Stone Angel represent the struggle between the civilized world and the wilderness. Throughout Canadian literature this is a major theme as Canada struggles with this same issue. Hagar sees the wild flowers as almost welcoming and she sees the cultivated flowers as pompous and overly pungent. She detests the cultivated ones and loves the wild and free ones perhaps because that is how she wants to be. Hagar wishes she were born in the Highlands with the wild gentlemen.

3.  Discuss the biblical allusion Hagar uses in the graveyard. Include whom she compared John to.

- While Hagar and John are in the graveyard Hagar is surprised to see the Stone Angel has been vandalized. Hagar asks John “Who could have done it?”(178) And John seems not surprised. Hagar asks John to stand it up but is reluctant. He does however decide to stand it up out of pride. When he is trying to stand up the angel Hagar thinks of a reference from the bible. She compares John to Jacob. Jacob is a man from the bible who took his brother’s blessing from him. He prays to God all night afraid that he will send Eau to kill him. God does however send an Angel that Jacob tells all his sins to and as the Angel is to leave Jacob grabs the Angel and tells of how he did wrong in taking his brother’s title away. Jacob and the Angel continue to fight through the rest of the night and no matter what pain the Angel put towards Jacob he continued to fight the Angel “His faith grew more earnest and persevering until the very last, even till the breaking of the day.” (http://www.preparingforeternity.com/sr/sr13.htm) The Angel tells Jacob to let go but Jacob says not till he is blessed. So the Angel asks his name and then says “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." His name is changed from Jacob to Israel because it is a name of a Prince. Israel meets his brother Eau in battle and asks his brother to accept his blessing but is not accepted. Jacob begs “Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it." (http://www.preparingforeternity.com/sr/sr13.htm)Hagar wishes John could look like Jacob and have strength and determination to stand it the Angel up like Jacob had to win against the Angel. But John ends up sweating and swearing while standing the Stone Angel up almost appearing as if the Angel was winning.

4.  How is Hagar more similar to the stone angel now that it has been knocked over and covered in lipstick?

-Hagar is more similar to the stone angel because like the angel over time it has been brought down, broken, and ruined, just like Hagar. Hagar has become a housekeeper, a title she thought she would never bear. She has gone from being the Pharaoh’s daughter to the poor housekeeper; she has no more pride in what she does so in turn she is ruined and broken.