Literary Devices in the Stone Angel
... magazine “- lick, flick, lick, flick.” Finally, Lawrence uses a metaphor in her description of the hospital building – “down in the lower passages of the hospital, the bowels of the building,” to describe Hagar’s feelings of disdain towards the place she is in. The first page of chapter five depicts Hagar once again in hospital, however this time she is in bed. Doris is again by her side to take care of her, though Hagar refuses her suggestion of Seconal to help her sleep. Hagar’s feelings of constraint are revealed in her description of her “soft web of sheets and pillows.” This leads Hagar to thoughts of a quiet place she once knew, where she would be able to get away. In order to describe her difficulty in remembering the name of the place, she uses a simile: “Like a plague of blackflies, the phrases buzz and mock me.” She finally recalls the name of this place, Shadow Point. Unlike chapters four and five, Hagar awakens in chapter six alone. This time she thinks of Doris and whether or not she closed the window because she is feeling so cold. This is when she realizes that she is at Shadow Point. It is raining, though Hagar recalls that it is not as harsh as the thunderstorms she witnessed in the prairies, where in a simile she describes “the lightning would rend the sky like an angry claw at the cloak of God.” She continues to describe the rain through personification. “But this rain’s ease is deceptive. There’s an unpleasant persistence about it.” Another ironic difference about this chapter when compared to the previous two, is that Hagar ponders the realization that she does not have any help. Whereas when she had the help, she was too proud to accept it. She wishes to arise from the bed and stretch out her cramped muscles,...