Burned In The Short Story Everyday Use By Alice Walker

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Burned In the short story “Everyday Use” written by Alice Walker, Maggie and her mother are waiting for Dee, Maggie’s older sister. The setting is in the vast yard surrounding the house. Maggie is unsettled by the fact that company is on its way. The fire has affected not only physically, but emotionally. “Sometimes I can still hear the flames and feel Maggie’s arms sticking to me, her hair smoking and her dress falling off her in little black papery flakes. Her eyes seemed stretched open, blazed open by the flames reflected in them” (Walker 79). Because of the fire that burned her body years ago, Maggie has become nervous, insecure, and scared girl. Maggie is a nervous wreck around other people, especially around her sister Dee: “Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed” (Walker 77). Maggie feels inadequate compared to her sister, always …show more content…

When Dee arrives, Maggie tries to run back into the house: "Maggie attempts to make a dash for the house, in her shuffling way, but I stay her with my hand. She stops and tries to dig a well in the sand with her toe." (Walker 80). Her reaction to just seeing her sister tells that the fire damaged her so emotionally, that she is scared of even being near her own sister. The man that Dee brought with her, Asalamalakim, tries to greet Maggie and she cowers away: "He moves to hug Maggie but she falls back, right up against the back of my chair. I feel her trembling there and when I look up I see the perspiration falling off her chin." (Walker 80). She is so terrified of him trying to shake her hand that she breaks out into cold sweats and is trying to back away as far as she can. Not only is she scarred physically, but emotionally in that it has affected her social skills. "Maggie's hand is as limp as a fish, and probably as cold, despite the sweat, and she keeps trying to pull it back." (Walker

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