A Death In The Family Analysis

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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 …show more content…

“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

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