James Agee's Life in comparison to A Death in the Family.
James Rufus Agee's A Death in the Family revolves around the death of a beloved father, Jay Follet, who in everyway was the perfect father and hero of his children. The story is not about death but about the emotional reaction to the death and about love, a topic that can be related to all with relative ease. Rufus, the main character, struggles throughout the novel to learn the true meaning of what has happened to his father and to mature. It is clear that James Agee's life had an enormous impact on the writing of A Death in the Family.
A Death in the Family begins with Rufus and his father, Jay Follet, going to the movie theatre to see a Charlie Chaplin film. As always Rufus" mother, Mary, objected to them going. She said that that little man was "vulgar" and "nasty" (Agee 11). After watching the movie they stopped on the way home at a local pub so Jay could get a drink. Later that night, after returning home, Jay gets a call from his drunken brother saying that he needs to come immediately to see his father who is in a fatal condition. Jay feels that his brother is most likely exaggerating the whole illness but never the less he should go to be sure. The next morning when the children wake up Mary tells them that their father has gone to see their sick grandfather and that he should be back before it is too late. That day Hannah calls to see if Rufus would like to go shopping with her after he gets home from school. Once home he eagerly obliges and runs to meet Hannah at his grandmothers house. While shopping Rufus sees a hat that he likes a lot but doesn't know if it's appropriate according to his mothers expectations. Hannah offers to buy it for him and he's ecstatic. When he gets home his father is still not home but his mother assures him that he will be home by the time he wakes up the next morning. Later that night Mary gets a call from a man saying that Jay has been in an accident and that a man from the family must come immediately.