Analysis of a Refugee Family

This direct approach image of a refugee family tells the story of many southern families as they fled the oncoming, ransacking Union Army. By highlighting and exaggerating certain aspects of this particular family, the photographer explains many of the hardships faced by these families, as they packed all of their belongings and began a journey south, not knowing when, or whether, it would end. The photograph is taken from a very low angle, which exaggerates the size of the pile of belongings on the cart, also highlighted by the photographer, through camera focus, is the woman standing in the foreground. The woman's overcoat, long dress, and bonnet clearly tell of the present winter, which adds the agony of the family's travels. The photographer includes two children in the image, showing how no one was left untouched by the terrors of war. The two men looking sadly on tell, not only of the hardships of the journey, but also of the lives being left behind. They hold their head high, but the worry in their eyes reveals their true thoughts. All that they have spent their lives building is being abandoned, probably to be destroyed, as they go to start again somewhere else. Other details that contribute to the picture are the blurred family and friends, the well built home being left, and the scattered goods that show what could not be brought along. All in all, the photographer tells an immense amount about the entire Civil War refugee situation with this single image.