Old Age Case

Eksamensstil: Old age

The part of the easy "Nearing 90" written by William Maxwell is about his thoughts about getting older and eventually dying. Maxwell is about to turn 90 but he is not really afraid of dying, since he have seen with his own eyes that growing old and dying might not be so horrendous. One thing that scares him though, is that he won't be able to read books when he's dead.

Maxwell is really fond of his memories, and one of the things he has been able to remember trough his childhood was when he was abroad a steamboat that sink, which caused a lot of people to die. Maxwell thinks that the accident made him cherish life more. Maxwell also have great memories of his children, and he is very happy to see them live great live of their own.

In the first text we are presented with Maxwell that sees old age as a part of life where one must accept and get ready for death. He talks about a old lady that he met when he lived on a farm, that suddenly didn't want to live any longer. "She lived well into her 90's and then one day told her oldest daughter that she didn't want to live anymore, that she was tired."(text 1, line 9-10) Even tough Maxwell wasn't there to hear this statement, it really opened his eyes. "I could believe that enough could be enough"(text 1, line 13) Maxwell really likes to look back on his memories but he also believes that one need to be careful not to get trapped in them and lose the sense of reality. It's also a part of life where you can continue to see your children living their own life, but there isn't much that you can contribute with on your own.

In the second text Lindey Tanner talks about how old age, according to new studies is the happiest time of your life. However she also states that you can't avoid to experience a little bit of stress with old age as you experience aches, pains and the passing of loved ones. However Old people have learned to be more content with their situation. As Linda George have said "An older person may realize "it's fine to be a schoolteacher and not a Nobel Prize winner."" (text 2, line 12-13). that's not completely true for all generations though. The baby boomers from the late 60's are having a harder timing realizing that they might not be able to do everything they want once they retire.

In the third text Dan bell enlighten us with details about how a lot of elderly are feeling lonely and are living in fear. According to reports from the American magazine "Help the aged" over one million elderly in the us are often lonely. Some of the reasons are because of physical problems that causes a lot of difficulty regarding venturing outside of their houses or a divorce from their spouse. A effect of that is that the elderlies world becomes very small. The lonely senior