proud strength renders her unable to express the emotions she does feel and incapable of dealing with strong emotions in others. When her father shows her tenderness, Hagar feels "caged and panicky," and wants to push him away (10). "We come to understand as well as the social forces-familial, patriarchal, and puritanical-which have led her to this distortion and that very pride which we deplore in its outer workings, as well as for Hagar's sake, is revealed to us as a means of survival." (Rooke 35-36) As Hagar ages, the wrongdoings of her character depict the outcomes of her life.
             The treatment of her husband, Bram Shipley, is representative of Hagar's personality, in which Hagar denies him the pleasure of knowing her deepest feelings. Hagar is unable to converse with her husband about important marital issues. Hagar describes her opinion of physical love: " It hurt and hurt, and afterward he stroked my forehead with his hand." (52). Hagar says, "not a word" of her feelings for him (52). This illustrates Hagar as being unable to communicate candidly with words, unwilling even to open her heart to the one she supposedly loves. According to society, Bram is "common as dirt," a characteristic of the type of person that Hagar refused to become (48). She is unable to "shut her ears" to the voice of her father's pride and values and therefore attempts to transform Bram into a man of strict societal values (13). Hagar does in fact feel strongly for her husband, but is unable to unlock herself emotionally to save their relationship:
             His banner over me was only his own skin, and now I no longer now why it should have shamed me. People thought of things differently in those days. Perhaps some people didn't. I wouldn't know. I never spoke of it to anyone. (81)
             This shows many aspects of her personality. Hagar is ashamed of Bram. She is strong in her ways of "proper appearances-restraint and inhibition and self-control, pride and fear ...