Oldal 59 [59]
THE RESONANCE OF MANAWAKA: LANDSCAPES OF RECONCILIATION
Consequently, the protagonists often embark on real-world adventures that
facilitate transformative changes in life patterns and reconciliation with their
former selves, symbolizing a broader journey toward reconciliation within
Canadian society.
WILD LANDSCAPES OF MEMORIES
In her Manawaka fiction, Margaret Laurence consistently challenges the endur¬
ing myth of the Golden West. This myth romanticizes settlers as brave con¬
querors of untamed lands, offering a utopic and “soothing contrast to the harsh
realities of the contemporary world” (Nash 69). Laurence, however, tells the
stories of Pioneers and settlers alongside those of the Métis as representatives
of the marginalized Indigenous population and bearers of their cultural herit¬
age. In doing so, she subverts the simplistic portrayal of settlers as brave yet
peaceful and hard-working individuals cultivating an uninhabited land, con¬
fronting it with the image of the Métis, dispossessed of their land and pushed
to the margins of society. By engaging with Canada’s Pioneer past and its rigid
dogmas, Laurens opens up the possibility of reconciliation.
The story of The Stone Angel (1964) revolves around a ninety-year-old Hagar
Shipley, representing the generation of Laurence’s grandparents, children of
the first settlers. Initially, Hagar rebels against her authoritarian Pioneer father,
but as she ages, she eventually adopts his provincial conservatism, living con¬
fined by pride and social prejudice. Hagar thus stands for both narrow Puritan
morals anda rebellious spirit against the provincial background they represent;
although “it was, of course, people like Hagar who created that background,
with all its flaws and its strengths” (Laurence, “A Place to Stand On” 18). Hagar’s
journey towards inner transformation commences in her old age, triggered by
the prospect of relocation to a senior home. The shock comes when her son
Marvin, whose wife grows tired of constantly caring for the increasingly infirm
Hagar, decides to sell the family house — a symbol of everything Hagar has
gained in her lifetime. In defiance, Hagar escapes to the wilderness, represented
by an abandoned fish cannery on the coast, where she is determined to assert
her autonomy.
The physical challenges Hagar faces in the natural landscape as she strug¬
gles while seeking refuge mirror the internal conflicts which she carries within
herself. Although Hagar’s climbing the difficult terrain and conquering the
territory can be seen as a triumph over both the wilderness and her aging body,
it also foreshadows the eventual shift in her perspective. Initially, she follows
the Pioneer belief in dominating the surrounding landscape and defeating
hostile Nature to find safety and security. The turning point comes when Hagar
notices her fingerprint on a spongy spot on a piece of mouldered wood. Debra
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