The Diviners Character Analysis

The novel “The Diviners”, written by Margaret Laurence follows Morag, a strong female character, who breaks most stereotypes set for women. As child, it is clear that Morag is in no need for masculine protection as Morag says, “If it comes to a fight, she doesn’t need to fight like girl, scratching with her fingernails. She slugs with her closed fist.” (Laurence 70). Even at a young, Morag establishes her independence and defies the stereotype of the weak female, which is depicted in the novel by her friend Eva. Even when Morag is older, she maintains the strong, independent character who worked very hard to get where she is. Morag explains this to an upcoming author who asks for advice, secrets into getting published, she says, “I worked like

He is oppressing her desires to be well educated and, in turn, treating her as a child and convincing her a degree is not necessary. Oppression is also present when Brooke quickly dismisses Morag’s problems by saying, “Is that it? Heavens, I thought you’d been suddenly stricken with something serious.” (Laurence 249). He is saying how she overreacts to her problems, which are not big enough to be serious, and oppressing her to maintain dominance. Finally, Brooke constantly treats Morag as a child, referring to her as “little one” or “child” but attempts to justify this by calling the endearments. An example of this is when he says, “Hush child. It’s all right. It doesn’t matter a damn.” (Laurence 243). Here, Brooke not only treats Morag as a child who needs comfort and needs her innocence saved but also feels the need for masculine protection. He believes the details to his story is too gruesome for Morag to hear and needs to be protected from the injustice of the world. Despite the way in which Brooke treats Morag, it is evident that Morag is a strong, independent female character who breaks many of the stereotypes which are set for