In any event, point of view can be the most crucial perspective for the understanding of meaning and importance in a particular situation. This can be demonstrated by reading the accounts of the life of Emma Gudger from two very different perspectives: that written by Emma, “So I Sung To Myself”, and another written by James Agee, “The Gudger Family, 1936”. In his portrayal of a poverty-stricken life in the south, James Agee focuses on one particular member of the Gudger family.
Agee’s choice of narrating his story around the life of the youngest daughter, Emma, best expresses the difficulty of life in poverty. Within the Gudger family, Emma has the most interesting and complex life as a result of her adolescence. Her sister, Annie Mae, is already older and married with a husband and their own house. Additionally, her father’s life is a fairly simple one, characterized primarily by his work. Furthermore, Agee’s focus on the life of Emma is a result of his obvious infatuation with her. In his opening line Agee explicitly states, “I am fond of Emma”.
Throughout Agee’s writings he incorporates a sexual undertone, which the reader may interpret as somewhat of a secret lust for Emma. Agee refers to Emma as a “young queen” and later writes, “Each of us is attracted to Emma”. This gives the reader a false sense that Emma’s life is purely sexual when in reality, her character is much more complex than this. Whether a result of Emma’s complex life or Agee’s attachment to Emma, Agee’s choice of a narrative voice only presents her life through one limited point of view. This may sometimes cause the reader to miss Agee’s point.
For example, after reading Emma’s first person account of her own life the shortcomings of Agee’s perspective are made evident. After reading Emma’s first person account of life in the south, one can grasp the importance of point of view in the narration of such events. It is undoubtedly clear that the two texts both show how rough her life was, though Agee does this in an entirely different fashion. Not only is she the most interesting, but also she goes through the most change.
She moved around extensively and at times was impulsive. But anyway he got the license and came after me and I ran away when I saw him coming. I went about three miles…” she states, showing her impulse to act without thorough thought. After reading her own account one can see that Emma’s life was very tough with the death of her mother. She had to work and take care of her father instead of attending school like other children. “I had to start cooking, milking the cow, going to the field too when I had time… I didn’t know how to do anything and I needed her so bad,” Emma writes.
The main distinction between the two texts, however, is the way in which Agee displays Emma as a highly sexual individual. After reading Emma’s version, Agee’s account seems to become a lot less valid. Agee’s choice of using Emma as the focus of his work illustrates the difficult life in the south at the time, but he does so in a totally different fashion. With such an overbearing sexual premise, the reader is often sidetracked from the point he is attempting to make. However, after reading Emma’s version, the reader can see that there is a lot more to the story.
In such an occurrence, point of view plays a very important role in understanding a course of events or feelings. No one can express a story better than a person that was directly involved. That is what makes Emma’s version much more feasible than Agee’s. Agee could never understand what Emma was feeling which directly affects her actions and emotions. On the other hand, some aspects of Emma’s story could have been overstressed because of emotions, which can overpower peoples’ thoughts.
Similarly, as stated earlier, Agee’s narration could have been distorted because of his infatuation with Emma. Subsequently, that is why after reading Emma’s own story certain aspects of Agee’s story are challenged. There are many factors to consider when examining the validity of each story, yet the natural tendency is to rely on a first person narration because it is believed to be more viable. This can be directly seen when evaluating the differences between Agee and Emma’s stories.
