The Stone Angel Lesson Plan

Can you think of other novels or movies that have a 90-year-old narrator? How does Hagar's tone indicate how she feels about aging? How does the tone change when she is remembering the past?

Many popular culture portrayals of elderly people speaking of their past are filled with nostalgia and gratitude. The Stone Angel is striking for Hagar’s extremely bitter tone in the present. She is frustrated by her powerlessness and enraged with those trying to care for and control her. While flashes of this bitterness arise when moving into memories from her childhood, the tone is often transformed into something much more innocent and positive, as if she is reliving these events...