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The Portrayal of Old Age in English-Canadian Fiction

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The Portrayal of Old Age in English-Canadian Fiction The Portrayal of Old Age in English-Canadian Fiction Heather Gardiner A thesis submined in conformity with the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Department of English, in the University of Toronto "Copyright by Heather Gardiner 1997 National Library Bibliothèque nationale 1+1 ,,na du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services seMces bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. nie Wellington Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or seLl reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of ths îhesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la fome de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author' s ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. The Portrayal of Old Age in English-Canadian Fiction Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1997 Heather Gardiner Graduate Department of English University of Toronto This thesis deais with the presentation of old age in English-Canadian fiction. The development of Canadian fiction coincided with the Ume when old age was becoming an issue in society at large. The number of works of Canadian fiction in English began to grow rapidy in the 19601s,just as the number of old people in Canada began to form an increasing part of its population. In Canadian literature, in general, there is a large body of works dealing with the subject of old age. It was thus found cecessary to confine this research to the way the ageing process is dealt with in English-Canadian fiction. Cross-references are made to some French-Canadian works and to some English-Canadian poetry. Andogies to other world literatures are made in footnotes which follow the conclusion. The main body of the thesis focuses on certain amhors who deal with the ageing process in depth. For exarnple, in Chapter One, "Images of Confinement: Order and Control in the Literawe of Old Age", Frederick Philip Grove's presentation of the ageing of the prairie farmer John Elliot in Our Daily Bread (1928) is one of the artisric techniques considered in detail. Other chapters deal with the portrayal of old age and its .- II relationship to the topics of retrospect, wisdom, vitality and mortality, and the concept of resurrection. Aside from Grove, other authors whose work is examined closely include Margaret Laurence, Joan Barfoot, Janene Turner Hospital, Ethel Wilson, Rudy Wiebe, W.O. Mitchell and Jack Hodgins. The above research supports a particular pattern in the study of old age in EngLsh-Canadian fiction. This thesis argues that the study of old age in this field sfiggests a liberating process which is possible in the minds of the aged as death is approached. Elderly protagonists in this genre are, on the whole, portrayed as possessing remarkably strong and vital personalities. Far frorn the notion of mere "survival" suggested by Margaret Acwood in Su~vd:A Thernatic Guide to Canadian Literature (1972), powerful elderly English-Canadian protagonists break away from the confinement of ageing bodies and explore new realities. This work not only builds upon the work of Canadian schohrs such as Constance Rooke, but also rnakes a contribution to the rapidly growing field of lirerary gerontology in the study of literature in general. Where appropriate, references are made to studies in other disciplines such as psychology and sociology. ... III Contents Introduction .................................................. Chapter 1 Lrnages of Confinement: Order and Control in the Literature of Old Age . 24 Chapter 2 Looking Back in Old Age: Ordering and Retrospect in the Journey of Life . 58 Chapter 3 The Wisdom of Old Age: Finding Meaning in the Life Experience ........ 93 Chaprer 4 Vitaliry and Mortality: Coming to Terrns with Death ..................127 iv Chapter 5 Old Age and Resurrection: Another Look at Reality .................. 162 Conclusion ................................................... 192 Notes ......................................................... 230 WorksCited ..................................................210 Introduction Canadian fiction in English began to flourish in the 1960's just as the number of old people in Canada began to form a large percentage of the population. According to Statistics Canada, there has been a dramatic decline in the birth rate since the early 1960's. When this is combined wirh an ageing baby boom generation, the result is a marked increase in the number of seniors in the Canadian population. In A~incin Canada (1980), Victor Marshall notes the sharp rise in the nurnber of Canadians over 65 between the years 1961 and 1981. During these yean, this segment of the population grew from 7.6 per cent to 9.7 per cent (59). At the sarne tirne, the number of elderly protagonists in fiction has risen, not only in Canada, but also world-w-ide, reflecting the general increase in the number of old people in the population of the world at large. As the population ages, there has been a greater awareness of the process of ageing and this has resulted in an increase in the number of stories about old age. What rnakes the Canadian situation so interesting is that its fiction was developing just as the phenornenon of ageing populations was entering society. This accounts for the fact that there are so many novels about old age in Canadian literature. The interest in fictional works about the ageing process is likely ro continue. Statistics Canada predicts that, with advances in medical technology, the increase in the number of seniors will continue well inro the next century. It should be noted that the proportion of over 65's in the Canadian population is less than that in other developed -7 countries. For example, in 1986 it was 11 per cent compared with 15 per cent in Sweden and 12 per cent in the United States. Even so, by the year 2021, one in five Canadians will be over 65 and today's baby boom generation wiU beïome "a generation of seniors" early in the next century. In the year 203 1 the number of old people in Canada is expected to be as high as 22 per cent of the population (Statistics Canada, 1988). Within this greying population, the number of "old" seniors is expected to rise dramatically. Statistics Canada defines a senior as sorneone 65 years of age or older and predicts that within this group the number of those over 85 will rise more significantly than those between 65 and 85 (Stone, Seniors Boom, 2.1). In About Canada: The A&w of the Canadian Population, a study carried out by the Research Centre of Aging at the University of Manitoba in 1990, Neena L. Chappell observed a wide discrepancy of ages in those over 65, and found that üge differences between 35 and 40 years are still possible. Chappell remarks upon the fact that such a diverse group has been defined as "the young-old, the middle-old and the old-old". This supposes that "young-old" is 65-69, "middle-old" 70 to 74 and "old-old" 75+- Chappell remarks: The number who are old-old is increasing rapidly. By 203 1, about 45 per cent of seniors in Canada WU be aged 75 and older. That is, almost half of the senior population will be old-old.(îl) For the world at large, the situation is unprecedented. As Chappell notes, "never before has any society had such a great amount of its population live ro old age" (8). In the same year that Chappell's work came out, Hugh Hood's Property and Value (1990) was published. Li this work Hood has, for fictional purposes, carried the process described by Chappell still further. He comments with wry humour on the division of old age into segments and on the proper definition of "old agett.Towards the end of the novel, the middle-aged Matthew Goderich recalls a conversation with the bank manager of his Uncle Philip. Matthew gives his unclefs age as "[sJixty-eight or nine" and the dialogue between bank manager and nephew is recalled as follows: "Oh well, Mr. Goderich, nobody in estate planning today considers that old age. We've completely revised our thinking in that direction. Nowadays we consider rnidde age to extend right through to seventy-five if the cunomer is in good- health and solvent. Then we divide old age into two segments, young old age from seventy-five through eighty-four, and middle old age from eighty-five on up." "1 see .... Does anybody really- get- old?" "1think that the concept has pretty well been abandoned." "Nobody grows old?" "Not as long as they're reasonably well off. They fish, they golf, they have their collections - paintings, drawings, medds, stamps, veteran car models - and the ladies have the; causes and their volunteer work, or they may have feminist anachments. Both sexes rravel a good deal." "But they still do die, from time to time?" "Thar's really rather outside my field, sir." (233-4) While Uncle Philip qualifies as old by any definition, one Canadian gerontologist, Mark Novak, defines old age as 60+ and in Successful A-in?: The Myths. Realities and Future of Agiq in Canada(1985), he notes that by the year 2025 this segment of the world's population will be about 14 per cent (53).
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