A further observation about the fantastic chapter in James Agee's A Death in the Family (1957), in which the young mother, Mary receives a late-night call informing her that her husband has been in a serious accident and that she should send one of her "menfolk" to the scene; she awaits word from he brother-in-law as to her husband's fate. In a weird and intriguing way, Agee has made us participate in the agony and suspense of this moment. Clearly, from the nature of the phone call and the taciturnity of the man who gives her the information, she knows that her husband is dead; were it any other outcome, the man on the phone surely would have told her so directly (for example, if he were badly injured they would rush him to a hospital and told Mary to get herself there). But she goes through the agony of waiting for final word desperately thinking of other possible outcomes and preparing herself for both the worst, Jay's death, and the best - preparing a first-floor bedroom where he could rest and recover. Similarly, we readers await final word; we know - from the circumstances and above all from the title of the novel - that Jay is dead, but we exist in a state of anxiety and agony, waiting for the "final word" from the author - our experience is much like Mary's, over the course of this long and complex chapter at the heart of the novel