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Compassion is the key to morality, and those who possess this quality are people of a caring and genuine nature. Margaret Laurence's character, Hagar Shipley, is someone to whom compassion is foreign. She lives a life obsessed with her public image and appearances, an obsession that leaves her bereft of true humanity. In The Stone Angel, Hagar Shipley lives a life blinded by her pride, ignorant of real emotions and feelings; it is only through …

…for her lost men-- her sons, husband, and father--which are originated by Hagar's emotionless appearance. The dominant lesson in The Stone Angel is that society often values superficiality over spirituality and it is this lesson that Hagar Shipley learns. The material aspects of Hagar's life dominated and drove love and feeling out of her personality. Once she embraces her ignorance, she is redeemed, and able to leave this world at peace with herself. Jody Dans