Comparisons of Maggie of Everyday Use and Laura of The...

English 1302 11 July 2013 â€Å"Two Different People, Same Problem†: A Comparison of Maggie and Laura’s Physical Defects We are sometimes known as our own worst critic and after reading Alice Walker’s short story â€Å"Everyday Use† and Tennessee Williams’ play â€Å"The Glass Menagerie†, we experience two characters that display this to be true. In â€Å"Everyday Use† we are introduced to Maggie, the timid and homely little sister who has burns throughout her arms and legs due to a house fire which occurred many years prior to when the story takes place. In â€Å"The Glass Menagerie† we read about Laura, an introverted character who suffers from a childhood illness causing her to have one leg shorter than the other leaving her to rely on the use of a†¦show more content†¦After Laura explains to her mother that no young men will be over to visit her, Amanda makes a comment that the gentlemen’s excuse must be due to some sort of flood or tornado. â€Å"It isn’t a flood, it†™s not a tornado, Mother. I’m just not popular like you were in Blue Mountain†¦ Mother’s afraid I’m going to be an old maid† (975). Much like Maggie, Laura allows her minor flaw to overrun her life and disallow her to build a relationship with others. Laura’s limp has prevented her from meeting and making any friends while she was in school also hindering her from building any kind of bond with others. Throughout both texts, each writer goes into further details justifying the characters insecurities due to their blemishes. When Maggie asks her mother for her opinion on how she looks in the dress she chose to wear, Mama compares Maggie’s posture to a dog that has just been struck by a vehicle. â€Å"She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground†(71). Mama validates that Maggie’s uncertainties about her appearance stem from the scars she sustained from the fire. Similarly, Laura permits her disfigurement to hinder her self-esteem. After Amanda discovers that Laura is no longer attending business school due to her anxiety, Amanda reassures her that women who do not