Lying: A Short Story Of A Maggie By Alice Walker

There are many different forms a lie can take on as it grows into a mass of tendrils with far too many loose ends to properly tie. The type of lie that affected my friend in the meatiest way were the lies she told herself and her family. Lying to herself was the easiest lie to pull off, because if she didn’t want to accept the truth the stronger the lie became. The lie she told herself was that she was perfectly fine going behind her parents’ backs to party, drink, and do drugs. It wasn’t until much later that she realized just how wrong she was and just how much she needed to change about herself all because of her lies. Maggie says that the lies she told her parents while she was young had and still has lasting effects in her life, such as lack of family support, drug problems, and a child.

Her father loved to drink almost as much as her mother, but it was when they drank together that fighting and hitting really started to focus on just maggie. Maggie’s lies started when she was around ten. They were small ones here and there, but when her mother was caught cheating, Maggie’s lies grew. She would say she was staying at her grandmother’s house, but instead she would sleep in the park near her house. She prefered the cold silent air to the screaming that was sure to start at home. Maggie’s parents filed for divorce. Through the divorce, Maggie started to hang out with her older cousin’s friends and when she was around thirteen she started going to parties. As Maggie got older she built up quite the reputation at parties and tales of these dark escapades made their way back to Maggie’s father. Her father was an extremely religious man even though the wood alcohol he drank in large quantities suggested otherwise. He could not find forgiveness for his daughter and disowned