But Hagar rejects the idea immediately. .
"Doris-I won't go there. That place. Oh, you know all right.
You know what I mean, my girl. No use to shake your head.
Well I won't. The two of you can move out. Go ahead and .
move right out. Yes, you do that. I"ll stay here in my house.".
(The Stone Angel, 57).
She fears that Marvin and Doris merely want her house and things in the house.
"The house of course. They mean to sell my house. What will become of my things"(57).
As they try to convince her of how nice Silverthreads is, she reacts with hostility; saying "Full of petunias, I suppose"(73-75). Hagar believes that everyone is trying to destroy what little dignity Hagar has left. Hagar, Marvin and Doris are touring the nursing home, against Hagar's will, she says "I never cared for barracks" in reply to Doris" inquiry about the dining hall. Hagar is ashamed that she said so "I used to pride myself on my manners, How have I descended to this snarl?" (98). This leads Hagar to take matters into her own hands. "They"re greatly mistaken if they think I"ll bend meekly and never raise a finger."(139). She plots her escape to Shadow point to evade the humiliation of relying on the care of others. Hagar's fear of humiliation affects her briefly once again in a very definitive moment that can clearly portray the effectiveness of pride upon Hagar's character. When Hagar's son John is involved in a train accident, she visits him at the hospital. There he dies in her arms, however, Hagar refuses to cry.
"She put a well-meaning arm around me. "Cry. Let yourself. It's the .
best thing." But I shoved her arm away. I straightened .
my spine, and that was the hardest thing I've ever had to .
in my entire life, to stand strait then. I wouldn't cry in .
front of strangers, whatever it cost me. .
(The Stone Angel, 242).
At this point she became an emotionless, inanimate object. "The night my son died I was transformed to stone and never wept at all.
