Also, Agee’s description of the song only focuses on the sounds that the singers make; He makes no attempt to describe the lyrics of the song or interpret the song to understand any underlying message. Agee is aware that he cannot understand the song, and thus does not make a futile attempt to do so. Instead, he describes the sounds he encounters in terms of metaphor, portraying the tenor’s voice as a “long, plorative line that hung like fire on heaven, or a whistle’s echo, sinking, sunken, along descents of modality I had not heard before,” and the baritone as “lift[ing] a long black line of comment…murmuring along monotones between major and minor, nor in any determinable key” (27). This method of describing the singing appears to give the
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First, is the battle against intruding on people’s, in this case black people’s, space. When he realizes the depth of their intrusion, Agee recounts that he feels guilt and shame over violating their space. This is often contrasted with Bourke-White, who was in a similar situation. In the article “Rivals in Photo-realism: James Agee vs. Margaret Bourke-White,” Adam Sonstegard recounts this similar incident saying, “The pair’s two Southern automobile trips involved manipulation of their subjects-manipulation which Agee would come to criticize. Bourke-White and Caldwell burst into an African American church unannounced, snapping pictures of a preacher mid-sermon, and never pausing to ask permission for their interruption” (60). This is contrasted with Agee’s chasing down the black couple to get the very permission that Bourke-White and Caldwell decided they did not need. While Agee notes that “Walker would do what he wanted whether we had ‘permission’ or not,” he felt that he still needed it. Agee, unlike Bourke-White, refuses to violate or exploit his subjects spaces, particularly, black spaces. Sonstegard states that “Agee openly questions his own right to observe and report, refusing to base any assumptions upon actual men” (63). This seems to include making the assumption that he is welcome in theses spaces, and that these people would welcome them in their …show more content…
In his attempt to gain permission from the couple, the Evans “broke into a trot,” however “[a]t the sound of the twist of [his] shoe in the gravel, the young woman’s whole body was jerked down tight as a fist into a crouch from which immediately, the rear food skidding into the loose stone so that she nearly fell” (38). Agee continues on to describe her as a “suddenly terrified wild animal,” and informs the reader that it took her a moment to overcome her reflex and to stand “not straight but sick, as if hung from a hook in the spine of the will not to fall for weakness” (38). As the couple knew that they had just past white men, it could be speculated that their fear was racially motivated. Again, Agee goes into detail about the distress he felt at starting the couple and causing them to fear him. He notes that he “wanted only that they should be restored, and should know [he] was their friend, and that [he] might melt from existence” (38). Agee goes on to tell the couple “‘I’m very sorry! I’m very sorry if I scared you!’” (38). The repetition of “I’m sorry,” occurs in both sections where Agee describes his interaction with black southerners. In each
First, is the battle against intruding on people’s, in this case black people’s, space. When he realizes the depth of their intrusion, Agee recounts that he feels guilt and shame over violating their space. This is often contrasted with Bourke-White, who was in a similar situation. In the article “Rivals in Photo-realism: James Agee vs. Margaret Bourke-White,” Adam Sonstegard recounts this similar incident saying, “The pair’s two Southern automobile trips involved manipulation of their subjects-manipulation which Agee would come to criticize. Bourke-White and Caldwell burst into an African American church unannounced, snapping pictures of a preacher mid-sermon, and never pausing to ask permission for their interruption” (60). This is contrasted with Agee’s chasing down the black couple to get the very permission that Bourke-White and Caldwell decided they did not need. While Agee notes that “Walker would do what he wanted whether we had ‘permission’ or not,” he felt that he still needed it. Agee, unlike Bourke-White, refuses to violate or exploit his subjects spaces, particularly, black spaces. Sonstegard states that “Agee openly questions his own right to observe and report, refusing to base any assumptions upon actual men” (63). This seems to include making the assumption that he is welcome in theses spaces, and that these people would welcome them in their …show more content…
In his attempt to gain permission from the couple, the Evans “broke into a trot,” however “[a]t the sound of the twist of [his] shoe in the gravel, the young woman’s whole body was jerked down tight as a fist into a crouch from which immediately, the rear food skidding into the loose stone so that she nearly fell” (38). Agee continues on to describe her as a “suddenly terrified wild animal,” and informs the reader that it took her a moment to overcome her reflex and to stand “not straight but sick, as if hung from a hook in the spine of the will not to fall for weakness” (38). As the couple knew that they had just past white men, it could be speculated that their fear was racially motivated. Again, Agee goes into detail about the distress he felt at starting the couple and causing them to fear him. He notes that he “wanted only that they should be restored, and should know [he] was their friend, and that [he] might melt from existence” (38). Agee goes on to tell the couple “‘I’m very sorry! I’m very sorry if I scared you!’” (38). The repetition of “I’m sorry,” occurs in both sections where Agee describes his interaction with black southerners. In each