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.

Maggie’s family was not a supporting one.

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

her.

Per Maggie another effect of her lies to her parents was a drug problem that she still has problems with today. At first Maggie was just alright with going to the parties, but then her curiosity grew. She started using drugs at parties to have a better time, then she started using them not just at parties. She says that to this day drugs are still the hardest part for her to work past. To Maggie the parties were fun, but the release she got from a needle was so much more comforting. Maggie almost died twice because of drugs and she first tried to stop when she missed her mother’s funeral to find a fix. It wasn’t until Maggie was around twenty-two and found out she was pregnant that she admitted herself into a rehabilitation clinic to save not just her child’s life but also her own.

Maggie says the third major problem that arose from the lies she told when she was young was her child. Maggie does not in fact see her child as a problem, but she sees her inability to feed and care for her child properly as the real problem. Although Maggie has worked hard to get her life on track, she still struggles with the fact that she has no real support outside of herself. She does work as a housekeeper because her record prevents her from getting a more sustaining job. She says she will do whatever it takes to provide for her baby.

In conclusion, the small lies Maggie told to go to these parties keep growing and compounding into larger lies. The lies made up her whole life to the point where she just waited to tell another to get her next fix. Maggie has changed and is trying to rebuild the relationships she lost as she fell into her lies, but she does not think that it will ever be like it was. The lies she told her parents while she was still a child had huge effects on the person she is today. She blames those lies for her lack of support, drug problems, and her inability to care for her child properly.