Gerontology :" So little about so much"

What is Gerontology?

Gerontology is a relatively new terminology and academic discipline although it has its beginning in the annals of history from the primal evolution of life. Ageing is a natural, physiological and an inevitable process. It brings along physical, social, cultural, biological, psychological changes. Gerontology is the study of this age related concerns. This is an interdisciplinary field which incorporates study from different fields of life.

Gerontology Vs Geriatrics

Gerontology is differentiated from Geriatrics in the sense that while Geriatrics is a medical branch that specializes in the treatment of existing diseases in older people, Gerontology is the study of old age, the process of ageing and the particular problems of old people. It requires the attention and collaboration from all areas of life - biology, nursing, medicine, criminology, social work, geography, pharmacy, sociology, economics, political science, public health and anthropology.

The term “Gerontology”

The term “Gerontology” was first coined by IIya Ilayich Mechnikov in 1903 from the Greek ‘geron’ – ‘old man’ and ‘logia’ meaning ‘study of’.

There are different branches in the study of Gerontology .Bio-gerontology - is the study of the biological aging process. It concerns itself with the different         theories of aging. Social Gerontology – focuses on the social aspects of growing old. Professionals in this field strive to improve the interactions between older adults and the rest of the world. Environmental Gerontology – focuses on the description, explanation and modification or optimization of the relation between elderly persons and their socio-spatial surroundings. Literary Gerontology – does not focus on growing older but the social, cultural changes associated with the process of growing old.

What is ageing?

Ageing basically refers to the chronological age from an individual’s birth to his death. This also includes the biological age, the psychological age and the social age i.e., the body, self, society (age, ageing, aged).  Biological changes are the changes brought about by the slowly reducing physical abilities. The Psychological age refers to the general declining in the mental abilities that accompany it and Social ageing refer to that stage in the life of the individual when he is regarded as old age in the group.

From time immemorial ageing has been reflected with changing concerns. Ageing is inevitable and irreversible and hence Gerontology is of equal concerns to the ageing and the aged. Literary studies have revealed that ageing also brings in a fear – of rejection, of isolation and alienation, of loneliness, of invisibility both within their communities and their families.

Societal structure is different in the western countries and in India. The western family structure is centered round the husband and wife and the children remain connected so long as they are not independent. In India, the family is a close knit structure that includes the husband-wife, the children and also the extended family.  In India, the old do not form a homogeneous population and therefore the problems are different. The problem of the affluent middle class is different from the old persons engaged in the unorganized sector. While those engaged in salaried jobs retire after a certain age, those in the unorganized sector continue their roles unless for a personal or health reason. Loneliness and isolation again is not very acute in the villages as they continue to live in a pre-industrial structure and the demands for skilled work and transfer of knowledge is still chiefly considered. In the cities, technological advancement has relegated the knowledge to be gained from ageing coupled with children  living far away from parents is also a major concern which has rendered the old as redundant.

Gerontology is a very important issue in today’s context. In the 75 years from 1950 to 2025, the world elderly population (60+years) will have increased from 200 million to 1.2 billion, i.e., an increase from 8% to 14% of the total global population. By 2050, population of people over 60% years old is expected to be 22% of the total global population. Increasing life expectancy has led to an increase in the population of the aged. Scientists like Leonard Hayflick have predicted that human life expectancy will peak at about 92 years old while others such as James Vaupel have predicted that for those born after 2000 life expectancy may reach at about 100 years.  Biological gerontologist like Aubrey de Grey in his ‘Strategies of Engineered Senescence’ suggests that we have a 50/50 chance of developing technology within about 20 to 30 years that with reasonable assumption and technological improvements can allow us to stop people from dying at any age leading to life expectancy of about 1000years. One can well imagine the horror of such a possibility, reminds us of the state of Laputians in Swift’s Gullivers Travels.

Literary Gerontology

 Literary Gerontology has a very significant role to play here. It is not concerned with why we age but the social, psychological, economic, political and other changes associated with ageing. Literature is rampant about concerns with ageing in its different discourses. Works addressing age and gender, race and age are truly interdisciplinary. Fictional representations have contributed to a better understanding of the aging process. Even the great poet  and playwright was constantly preoccupied with beauty and the loss  of beauty with age(sonnet 13), love and death(18), the debility or loss of muscle strength and weakness associated with age ‘ decrepit father’(37),’ without a bail shall carry me away’(174).  Time is used 78 times in the sonnets from 1-126. Man has no control over time but yet tries to conquer time, he is a ‘bloody tyrant’ (16). Again in sonnet 60  “ Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore/ so do our minutes hasten to their death”. Shakespeare did not shy away from depicting the pain and trauma and helplessness brought by age as shown in the storm scene of King Lear. Depiction of elderly abuse is an important part in Shakespeare studies.

 The Nobel laureate (awarded in 1923) Irish poet W. B. Yeats (1865-1939)  is another poet who has been chiefly pre-occupied with age. His poems ‘The Four Ages of Man, The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner, Memory, Broken dreams, Sailing to Byzantium( An aged man is but a paltry thing/ A tattered coat upon a stick) , An Acre of grass , When you are Old all deal with the gerontological question of loss, of vigour and virility with age.

Although I shelter from the rain

Under a broken tree

My chair was nearest to the fire

In every company

They talked of love or politics

Ere time transfigured me.

Though lads are making pikes again

For some conspiracy. 

 And crazy rascals rage their fill

At human tyranny.

My contemplations are of Time

That has transfigured me.

There’s not a woman turns her face

Upon a broken tree

And yet the beauties that I loved

Are in my memory;

I spit into the face of Time

That has transfigured me.

(The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner)

Yeats believed that the decline in his mental agility was a direct result of his loss of virility. He underwent surgery to revive his strength and energy and believed that the operation was successful.

Literature mirrors the society and these are not stray references. Literary gerontology has now expanded its net to include drama and performance, fiction, biography, autobiography and poetry. Films and fiction provide us with fresh insights into the diversity of the aging process.

Mainstream Hindi cinema has depicted senior citizens mostly as old. It would be unfair to call them ignorant of old age. The old characters played strictly their age. They came in a range of traits nonetheless – quiet, retired, inert , ailing, conservative, affectionate, crooked, dominating, benevolent, disciplinarian etc .Over the last four decades, a number of Hindi commercial films made old characters break their wall, venture into the other side and hog the limelight putting young folks at the sideline. Shaukheen(1982)  saw three sixty plus men embark on an adventure to satisfy their lecherous hunt for good times with women. In China Gate that came out 1998 ,  ten old, retired, military men on exile take up a ‘sholay-like ’task putting their lives at stake to regain some of their lost glory in life. In another movie Cheeni Kum(2007) a 64year old bachelor falls in love with a woman of 34 years. His challenge comes from her father, who is younger than him and quite understandably far from accepting such an odd alliance for his only daughter. In Nishabd (2007) a 60 year old , much married man is in  a serious relationship with a friend of his 18year old daughter. Things don’t work out, obviously his family and relatives don’t allow his fall from grace. Piku(2015) was a cult movie so far as gerontology is concerned. A seventy year old father shares a quirky bond with his daughter. He almost loses everyone’s sympathy for him owing to his eccentricities and extreme fuss over constipation. In a first of its kind the movie revolved round bowel movements as a central theme. In Pink (2016), an old lawyer makes a comeback into his shoes inside the courtroom to fight for a few young women. He chose to save their grace by giving them justice against a powerful group of molesters. He utters some of the most hard-hitting dialogues (including “No means No”) questioning the age old assumptions on morality, character and womanhood.

 The question that arises is how is literary gerontology different?

Literary gerontology is a slow but gradually increasing area of research. Anne M. Wyatt Brown in her 1992 book “Literary Gerontology comes of Age” is because of the daunting task for literary critics “to study gerontological issues and theories, master an unfamiliar social science vocabulary and attract an interdisciplinary audience capable of responding intelligently and critically to their insights”. Reading is capable of evoking a simulation of reality and thus responding to real life events. Stories offer opportunities to explore questions about meaning and interpretation in thinking about ageing that lack definite answers but are worthy of exploration. It seeks to break the restrictions that draw an immediate link between old age and the loss of vigour and strength. Texts help to negotiate preconceived beliefs about old age and death. It seeks to subvert expected ways of thinking and living by characters entering or in old age, thereby reconsidering stereotypical images of old age. Literature therefore, not only mirror’s society’s conventions, but also creates them. The aim of literary gerontology is therefore to gain insights into old age but also specifically to address issues such as ageism, elder abuse, health in later life and dementia.

Gerontology is significant not only for others but also for the self. Mike Hepworth in her ground breaking book “Stories of Ageing” referred to “ageing as a human construct”. New interest on the part of literature scholars in the field of age studies has led to the establishment of different sub- specialties. Feminists have brought in new issues and age related biological change in woman has been called the ‘third pregnancy’. Thus, there is a need to re-define one’s identity connected with the passage of time and age as a possibility of liberation from a static and rigid role identity. But still there is a paucity of literature for such a blooming concern. In time, we should all prepare ourselves for the gerontological explosion and make changes for better and easier adaptations.

(I acknowledge my indebtedness to various sources, including the Wikipedia for information required in this write-up  - this is a relatively new area of study for me and would be honoured if readers could also post suggestions for further reading and research)