Burned In The Short Story Everyday Use By Alice Walker

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

mentally comparing herself to Dee. She hides nervously behind her mother in order to hide her burn scars in hopes of blending in so no one can see the story of the past. "I hear Maggie suck in her breath. “Uhnnnh" is what it sounds like." (Walker 80). Maggie is so nervous when Dee and her guest pulls up, that she can’t form a coherent sentence. She stumbles with her words and tries to run back into the house. The fire that burned her years ago has made her unable to have a normal social experience outside of her mother’s company.
Maggie is insecure after the fire burns most of her body. Maggie’s sister Dee is tall and elegant with an education to go along with her beauty. Maggie sees herself as less than her sister: "She knows she is not bright. Like good looks and money, quickness has passed her by." (Walker 79). Her own mother compares her to a lame animal that has been hit: "Maggie walks chin on chest, eyes on ground, and feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned..." (Walker 79). Not only did it leave her with horrifying memories, but with scars that mark her arms and face. This has caused her to be unattractive compared to her sister. Maggie walks around in the shadows, staying in the background so no one sees her. She prefers not being center of attention for the simple fact of the burns that mar her arms and face.
Maggie is scared of confrontation and being around strangers.

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

81).
Ever since the fire that scorched her body, Maggie has become a very nervous, insecure, and scared girl. She Avoids confrontation and people she doesn't know. Even her own sister makes her cower away. She looks at her sister with envy and awe, thinking that her sister has everything she could ever want. Maggie goes through life in the shadows, too scared to emerge because of her burns. She is hardly a presence in a room, mumbling out answers and holding her head down.