- Email: [email protected]
If You Were an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, What Would You Do?
EDITORIAL There was an old woman Who lived in a shoe, She had so many children She didn’t know what to do; She gave them some broth Without any bread, She whipped them all soundly And put them to bed.
If You Were an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, What Would You Do? Gene D. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D.
I
Copyright 䉷 2000 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 8:2, Spring 2000
f one is to take a broad view of issues in mental health and aging, early attitudes of children about old age and elderly people should be considered. After all, these early images are the beginning of what shapes the young child’s understanding and expectations, as well as anxiety and comfort, about what lies ahead for their parents and themselves as they all age. Apart from exposure to grandparents, much of the earliest acquaintances of very young persons with older persons are through fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and children’s stories. But the record of the classics in these three domains in dealing with the roles of older persons is not one that elicits accolades. Portrayals of older persons are far too often negative or focused on the dark side of human nature. Central older figures in these tales are commonly depicted as wicked, weird, or weak. Such images can hardly be comforting about what lies ahead in later life, nor very encouraging about interest in engaging with older persons. This is far from an optimal context for promoting psychologically appealing intergenerational relationships. Paradoxically, so many of these children’s classics are in contradistinction to the growing number of positive models of aging in contemporary culture. The problem, though, is that the earliest exposure in quantity of very young people to old people is through the pages and pictures of these books. And their portrayals are powerful in many of the favorite stories, as illustrated by Cinderella’s wicked stepmother, the scheming queen in Snow White, the evil fairy in Sleeping Beauty, the wicked witch in Hansel and Gretel, and the ominous octopus Ursula in The Little Mermaid. And when these antagonists are pictorially illustrated in the books, they typically are drawn as older adults. Although there is an overemphasis on older women in these negative roles, men are not left out; they themselves are often presented as wicked or weird, such as the evil Minister of Justice Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the malevolent Jafar from Aladdin, the weird and disingenuous Rumpelstiltskin, and the sinister Captain Hook from Peter Pan. When older persons are not portrayed as evil, ominous, or sinister, they are often portrayed as weak, gullible, or unattractive. Take Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, for example, described as frail and bedridden, taken in by a wolf who disguised his voice to sound like her granddaughter. Then, too:
93
Editorial There was an old lady Who swallowed a fly— I don’t know why she swallowed a fly; Perhaps she’ll die! And there was Old Mother Hubbard Went to the cupboard, To fetch her poor dog a bone. But when she got there The cupboard was bare And so the poor dog had none. This brings us back to the old woman who lived in a shoe, who is presented as unattractive and abusive. Interestingly, although her situation is elaborated, the blame appears to be applied more to her being old than to the stressful context confronting her. Think about it: what would you do if you lived in horrendous conditions best described as a shoe, with all those wild children to care for and nobody helping you? You wouldn’t be singing about Mr. Bluebird on your shoulder! So, what to do? The point is not to burn books with negative portrayals of older persons, but to balance them with others showing not just what is unsettling and unappealing in relation to age, but balancing this imagery with what is wonderful, witty, and warm with advancing years. Gerontologists are at work to improve options about what literature is available to young persons about aging. The National Academy for Teaching and Learning about Aging (NATLA) at the University of North Texas, for example, promotes education about aging issues in teacher preparation and K–12 schools. Still, we need to start even earlier. Libraries could help by developing reading lists for families that outline appealing books for very young readers that deal with aging in positive, artful, and powerful ways. Some libraries already do; most do not—but could. Though there certainly should be more books with positive images about aging geared to younger readers, many are, nonetheless, presently available. There are stories where the central figure is an older person, like Emma, about a great-grandmother who started to paint at age 72.1 And there are stories where older persons play secondary, but nonetheless significant roles, as in the new Disney epic Mulan. In Mulan, there is a wise and courageous elderly emperor along with Mulan’s compassionate, aging father and colorful grandmother; the latter two help one to understand where Mulan gets her inner strength and spirit. Stories like these need to be better identified in relation to how they reflect aging. National awards through the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts could be given to individuals developing, for the young and very young, stories
94
Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 8:2, Spring 2000
Editorial and images of older persons in heroic and other positive light that are judged the best in juried competitions; some such encouragement is occurring, but it could be on a considerably greater scale. Scholars need to get more active in organizing what has been portrayed positively about older persons such that artists and writers have more source material to draw upon. Here, too, progress is occurring, as in works like Jane Yolen’s Gray Heroes: Elder Tales From Around The World, about international “graying heroes and heroines who heartily prove that you’re never too old to fall in love, fight a dragon, play a trick, save a king or kingdom, teach a lesson,—or learn one yourself.”2 Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, and other classics that happen to contain negative images of older persons are, nonetheless, great books. They will continue to be read and should be, because they contain so many important themes and speak to so many important values apart from those associated with aging, and they are terrific stories. But children early on should also be afforded the opportunity through literature to meet the positive faces of aging; it will have a positive effect on how they come to face their own aging. A wise old owl Lived in an oak; The more he saw, the less he spoke; The less he spoke The more he heard. Why can’t we all be Like that wise old bird?
References 1. Kesselman W, Cooney B: Emma. New York, Dell Picture Yearling, 1993 2. Yolen J: Gray Heroes: Elder Tales From Around the World. New York, Penguin Books, 1999
Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 8:2, Spring 2000
95
If You Were an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, What Would You Do? Gene D. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D.
I
Copyright 䉷 2000 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 8:2, Spring 2000
f one is to take a broad view of issues in mental health and aging, early attitudes of children about old age and elderly people should be considered. After all, these early images are the beginning of what shapes the young child’s understanding and expectations, as well as anxiety and comfort, about what lies ahead for their parents and themselves as they all age. Apart from exposure to grandparents, much of the earliest acquaintances of very young persons with older persons are through fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and children’s stories. But the record of the classics in these three domains in dealing with the roles of older persons is not one that elicits accolades. Portrayals of older persons are far too often negative or focused on the dark side of human nature. Central older figures in these tales are commonly depicted as wicked, weird, or weak. Such images can hardly be comforting about what lies ahead in later life, nor very encouraging about interest in engaging with older persons. This is far from an optimal context for promoting psychologically appealing intergenerational relationships. Paradoxically, so many of these children’s classics are in contradistinction to the growing number of positive models of aging in contemporary culture. The problem, though, is that the earliest exposure in quantity of very young people to old people is through the pages and pictures of these books. And their portrayals are powerful in many of the favorite stories, as illustrated by Cinderella’s wicked stepmother, the scheming queen in Snow White, the evil fairy in Sleeping Beauty, the wicked witch in Hansel and Gretel, and the ominous octopus Ursula in The Little Mermaid. And when these antagonists are pictorially illustrated in the books, they typically are drawn as older adults. Although there is an overemphasis on older women in these negative roles, men are not left out; they themselves are often presented as wicked or weird, such as the evil Minister of Justice Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the malevolent Jafar from Aladdin, the weird and disingenuous Rumpelstiltskin, and the sinister Captain Hook from Peter Pan. When older persons are not portrayed as evil, ominous, or sinister, they are often portrayed as weak, gullible, or unattractive. Take Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, for example, described as frail and bedridden, taken in by a wolf who disguised his voice to sound like her granddaughter. Then, too:
93
Editorial There was an old lady Who swallowed a fly— I don’t know why she swallowed a fly; Perhaps she’ll die! And there was Old Mother Hubbard Went to the cupboard, To fetch her poor dog a bone. But when she got there The cupboard was bare And so the poor dog had none. This brings us back to the old woman who lived in a shoe, who is presented as unattractive and abusive. Interestingly, although her situation is elaborated, the blame appears to be applied more to her being old than to the stressful context confronting her. Think about it: what would you do if you lived in horrendous conditions best described as a shoe, with all those wild children to care for and nobody helping you? You wouldn’t be singing about Mr. Bluebird on your shoulder! So, what to do? The point is not to burn books with negative portrayals of older persons, but to balance them with others showing not just what is unsettling and unappealing in relation to age, but balancing this imagery with what is wonderful, witty, and warm with advancing years. Gerontologists are at work to improve options about what literature is available to young persons about aging. The National Academy for Teaching and Learning about Aging (NATLA) at the University of North Texas, for example, promotes education about aging issues in teacher preparation and K–12 schools. Still, we need to start even earlier. Libraries could help by developing reading lists for families that outline appealing books for very young readers that deal with aging in positive, artful, and powerful ways. Some libraries already do; most do not—but could. Though there certainly should be more books with positive images about aging geared to younger readers, many are, nonetheless, presently available. There are stories where the central figure is an older person, like Emma, about a great-grandmother who started to paint at age 72.1 And there are stories where older persons play secondary, but nonetheless significant roles, as in the new Disney epic Mulan. In Mulan, there is a wise and courageous elderly emperor along with Mulan’s compassionate, aging father and colorful grandmother; the latter two help one to understand where Mulan gets her inner strength and spirit. Stories like these need to be better identified in relation to how they reflect aging. National awards through the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts could be given to individuals developing, for the young and very young, stories
94
Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 8:2, Spring 2000
Editorial and images of older persons in heroic and other positive light that are judged the best in juried competitions; some such encouragement is occurring, but it could be on a considerably greater scale. Scholars need to get more active in organizing what has been portrayed positively about older persons such that artists and writers have more source material to draw upon. Here, too, progress is occurring, as in works like Jane Yolen’s Gray Heroes: Elder Tales From Around The World, about international “graying heroes and heroines who heartily prove that you’re never too old to fall in love, fight a dragon, play a trick, save a king or kingdom, teach a lesson,—or learn one yourself.”2 Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, and other classics that happen to contain negative images of older persons are, nonetheless, great books. They will continue to be read and should be, because they contain so many important themes and speak to so many important values apart from those associated with aging, and they are terrific stories. But children early on should also be afforded the opportunity through literature to meet the positive faces of aging; it will have a positive effect on how they come to face their own aging. A wise old owl Lived in an oak; The more he saw, the less he spoke; The less he spoke The more he heard. Why can’t we all be Like that wise old bird?
References 1. Kesselman W, Cooney B: Emma. New York, Dell Picture Yearling, 1993 2. Yolen J: Gray Heroes: Elder Tales From Around the World. New York, Penguin Books, 1999
Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 8:2, Spring 2000
95