A Death In The Family Analysis

A loss in someone's life is life changing and tragic. It is a tough obstacle to overcome.
The book “A Death in a Family by James Agee” is about a true life story of how a young boy loses his father at a young age. It delineates how tragedy can turnover any human beings life.
For instance, “James Agee believed that his self never found its proper definition or grew to its full size, because of an early, traumatically abrupt severance…” (‘Practically an American Home’ James Agee’s Family Solitudes). Due to his family member passing when he was so young, he felt that after that event, he could no longer live the same or keep living to grow. This is very common to anyone that has lost a loved one at any point in their life. People cope in different ways. Some deal with the fact slowly and go on with life. Some struggle to move past their loss and the fact that they will no longer

see their loved one and turn into a dark place. In his book he expresses how being so young at the moment affected him forever. Which mildly decreased his development because he was so shaken with what had happened in his life.
“-A Knoxville family faced with the problems of love and human loneliness.” (James Agee’s ‘A Death in the Family’ Tells a Story of Love and Loneliness)
Soon after the death of Mary’s husband (Jay) their family went through some rough patches.
She had to explain to her children why they would never speak or see their father again. Her kids being so young did not help the situation because they were too petite to comprehend what was being told to them. Mary also lost her best friend and love of her life which made it harder for her to keep going, but like any other strong mother she learned to keep it together for the sake of her children and for herself. There were times when she was lonely and was not able to see her wonderful husband that treated her so well. It was difficult for her, but she did all she could to try and keep her family functioning well due to her heartbreak.
As a matter of fact, Rufus (Jay’s son) felt trapped after his father’s passing.

“His father's death cuts Rufus off from “home” in this sense; thus, he roams the house looking for comfort in concrete signs of his father's existence, even wiping the inside of his father's ashtray with his finger.” (Overview: A Death in the Family) This really took a toll on him. It has been proven that a child losing someone, especially a parent at such a young age can cause mental health problems. For instance , he was trying to figure a way to communicate or connect with his father after he was gone as a way of finding peace, especially since he was so close to his father.
Imagine being with someone the night before their death and the next day finding out you will never associate with them again.
As a result, in the book “A Death in the Family” it also mentions how Rufus turns to bullying his sister because of the the pain of his loss. This becomes of children when they have no other thing to turn to, so they hurt other people to make them feel a bit better due to their lack of

happiness.

He also allows his fellow peers to bully him. He finds them bullying as a way of them liking him and accepting him. Rufus had few friends so he felt that if he had to get picked on in order to have friends, then he would do it.
Sadly, Rufus lost his faith in his religious beliefs and questioned his father's fate to his mother and aunt. He questions why his mother and aunt say that the impact of his dad's car crash and god killed his father. He believes that it was just the impact that killed him.
The death that had occurred in his family changed his character in many ways throughout his growth and throughout the book.
It is honestly normal for someone to feel this way when something this tragic happens. To just go about your day after something like this is not possible because we all have feelings, we are not robots.
As you can see loss changes someones whole perspective on life. They could either continue and cherish their life they still living or they could continue to be heartbroken and stay isolated to never moving on with life .
Little do they know that moving on is actually a really good thing to feel. I have personality gone through a change of loss rather it be losing my grandfather when i was 5 years old or my parents divorcing when i was 3 years old. I was too young to understand, but somehow i did.
Sure it made me hurt a lot inside but once i found the strength to get past it, it was the best feeling.