The Best American Essays Chapter Summary & Analysis - The Personal Voice: Westbury Court, In the Kitchen, and Mirrorings Summary

The Personal Voice: Westbury Court, In the Kitchen, and Mirrorings Summary and Analysis

Westbury Court by Edwidge Danticat: Danticat reflects upon the nuances and inconsistencies of childhood memories and, in particular, a fire that ruined the apartment down the hall from her family's. It was not until fireman entered the apartment to evacuate her and her siblings that she even knew there was a fire; she was too engrossed in watching television to notice. She recalls seeing the lifeless corpses of the children being taken out of the apartment and the horror on the face of their mother. The mother was later arrested and charged with child neglect and the apartment remained vacant for a long time afterward until a group of Haitian musicians moved in. Later in her adulthood, she questioned the fidelity of her memory—did the children die or just move away? She asked her mother and the questioned seemed to renew a dormant grief over...
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