Hagars Story as a Text of Terror - Essay Example

Trible thinks of Hagar’s story as a text of terror because of the tarrying things that Hagar went through while in servitude in Abraham and Sarah’s home. She presents Hagar’s character and situation using different literary methods.
The methods used to elucidate the character and situation of Hagar
Allegory is one of the methods that Trible uses to elucidate the character and situation of Hagar. Hagar’s servitude in Abraham and Sarah’s home, tells the story of the Israelites’ slavery in Egypt. While there, she suffered from the way her masters treated her. She was unwillingly given to Abraham to bear him a child who was to become Sarah’s. Sarah mistreated her to a point where she ran away because she could not stand the mistreatment any longer. Similarly, Egyptian slave masters made Israelites do hard jobs without regard to their willingness. Hagar’s two times of leaving Abraham and Sarah’s home represent the exodus, the journey of the Israelites as they left Egypt heading to Canaan (Trible 14).
Trible elucidates Hagar’s situation of suffering by using juxtaposition. She places Hagar’s story side by side with that of her masters and by extension, with Israelites, her metaphorical biblical equivalence. For example, Hagar is placed in a servant’s position while Abraham and Sarah are placed in the master’s position. The privileges and responsibilities that come with both positions are clear to the reader in that Hagar comes across as powerless, poor and bonded while Sarah is rich, free and powerful. Secondly, the juxtaposition reveals that the deity favors Sarah and Abraham and disfavors Hagar. For example, although Hagar is the fertile one, she does not have the authority to decide what to do with her child. Additionally, even though she receives the promise of a son from the deity, the promise is not as good as that of her master’s son. On the other hand, Sarah is barren but she decides that Hagar’s son is hers and the deity supports her. When she banishes Hagar, the deity backs her up by commanding the husband, Abraham, to comply with her decision. Isaac, Sarah’s son is promised with the desirable accompanying promise of inheriting the father (Trible 16).
Hagar’s story as a text of terror
To Trible, Hagar’s story is a text of a terrorist because she is used, abused and rejected. The use came in the form of being used by Sarah to give her a child. This qualifies as useful because it is like surrogacy and Hagar had no rights over the child she would bear. Additionally, Hagar did not have a choice to accept or refuse to bear the said child primarily because she was a slave with no say and this was a decision made by her master.