BookRags.com Literature Guides Literature
Guides
Criticism & Essays Criticism &
Essays
Questions & Answers Questions &
Answers
Lesson Plans Lesson
Plans
My Bibliography Periodic Table U.S. Presidents Shakespeare Sonnet Shake-Up
Research Anything:        
History | Encyclopedias | Films | News | Create a Bibliography | More... Login | Register | Help


A Death in the Family Study Guide

Print-Friendly  Order the PDF version  Order the RTF version
by James Agee
About 32 pages (9,674 words)
A Death in the Family Summary

Bookmark and Share Know this work well? Help others and get FREE products!

Themes

Vulnerability

In a way, A Death in the Family stands as an extended meditation on human vulnerability. The story's figure of strength is the father, Jay Follet, a man who, it is revealed, has lived a hard life, raised himself up from humble beginnings in a log cabin, overcome problems with alcohol and marital instability and come out better for them all. When they find out that he is dead, his children immediately wonder how anybody could hurt him. Jay's death in a car accident could have been rendered as a bloody and violent, but Agee makes a point of noting frequently in the story that it actually takes very little to kill him: it is not the car careening up an embankment and flipping over on its back that does Jay in, but a.....

This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 1,221 words. This study guide contains 9,674 words (approx. 32 pages at 300 words per page).

Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our A Death in the Family Access Pass.

Ask any question on A Death in the Family and get it answered FAST!
Answer questions in BookRags Q&A and earn points toward
discounted or even FREE Study Guides and other BookRags products!
Learn more about BookRags Q&A
Copyrights
A Death in the Family from BookRags and Gale's For Students Series. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.

Join BookRagslearn moreJoin BookRags




About BookRags | Customer Service | Report an Error | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy