Essay on The Luck of Ginger Coffey and The Stone Angel :: Comparison Compare Contrast Essays

The Luck of Ginger Coffey and The Stone Angel    Brian Moore, and Margaret Laurence’s concern for the plight of the individual and their position in society is clearly self-evident in their novels The Luck of Ginger Coffey and The Stone Angel. Finding one’s place in society is a major dilemma many people face every day. Once people find their place in society they understand who they are, what is expected by them and what their roles are. Once a person has found their place in society they understand their life and which direction it is going.   The main characters are portrayed as two different individuals with very different lives who have only one thing in common- their inability to find their proper place in society. Brian Moore, and Margaret Laurence’s concern for the plight of the individual and their position in society is clearly self-evident in their novels The Luck of Ginger Coffey and The Stone Angel . The main characters Ginger Coffey and Hagar Shipley both struggle to survive with dignity even though their overwhelming pride often obscures reality. Throughout the novel it becomes evident that both Ginger Coffey and Hagar Shipley’s overwhelming sense of pride obscures their reality and therefore causing problems for them. Coffey the main character in Brian Moore’s novel The Luck of Ginger Coffey is portrayed as a comic hero who has endless limitations that he does not see. Ginger Coffey believes he is his own man, which is why he leaves his homeland Ireland and moves to Canada . Coffey be lieves Ireland would not allow him to become the person he thought he could be, " What was his aim in life ? Well...he supposed it was to be his own master, to provide for Vera and Paulie, to...to what ?...To make something of himself, he supposed." (Moore, pg.21) Coffey’s values do not seem to be unrealistic or selfish in themselves, but because he sets unobtainable and unrealistic goals he encounters numerous failures. Coffey cannot content himself with a simple job and provide for his family in this way; he wants to become someon! e important, and achieve personal status. Not realizing that these very ideas bind him to a life of repetitive failures. Because of his pride Coffey sees himself not as the middle aged man that he is, but as an attractive young boy out for new adventures.