The Portrayal of Old Age and its Effect on the External Perception Thereof

Beggar with Dog (1622)

Old Man and Dog (1910)

Beggar with Dog shows an elderly man with his head turned down wearing loose clothing, among which is a cloak torn at the ends. He holds a jar from its handle in one hand and plants a walking stick on the ground as well. Beside him is his dog on a leash, seated and looking towards an unknown source on the right. Old Man and Dog features an elderly man with a corn bob pipe with his back to a large furnace. He stands with proper posture and stares ahead as his droopy dog slouches by his side. The orientation of the men's standing positions is noticeably different: the beggar has his hat covering his face completely, his head turned downwards and his hands folded in front of him. The other man's head is turned upright, face visible, and his hands are folded behind him. The latter's demeanor shows more confidence and ostensibly higher social status than the former. The beggar, with his hands forward, shows everything he has at first sight: the stick, the jar (presumably for donation collection), and the dog. The other man looks ahead sharply with his hands empty behind him, his dog unleashed, even. The socioeconomic background of both characters is highlighted in the way they dress and seem to carry themselves. Both appear to stand in a state of pondering, but that upon which they are reflecting, the viewer can infer, differs significantly.

The dog in Old Man and Dog conveys the mood of the image that the old man does not. The dog's expression and posture is crestfallen, communicating a dismal attitude surrounding old age. The old man denies this outward expression, opting instead, the viewer assumes, for inward reflection and internal emotional expression. The stove behind him could serve as a symbol of the warmth of nostalgia, something that the old man absorbs the energy of without facing directly. In contrast, the beggar gazes down at his step and his dog in reflection of his past and present rather than looking ahead towards the future. The dog looks ahead instead, perhaps looking out for his pensive owner.

Beggar (1622-1630)

In a similar vein to the works above, Beggar provokes thought about the socioeconomic status among the elderly population as well as their external perception. The man depicted is seated, holding a stick and looking down at a small bowl with two coins in it. The condition of his attire is of comparable nature to that of the beggar in Beggar with Dog. The image exudes the same melancholy spirit as those above, suggesting that dejection accompanies the phases of old age. Moreover, the image inspires reflection about how the continuation of socioeconomic class creates varying effects as one ages. Do Socioeconomic Disadvantages Persist Into Old Age? Self-reported Morbidity in a 29-year Follow-up of the Whitehall Study examines the correlation between socioeconomic status throughout one's life and their according health development in old age. It was concluded that "socioeconomic status in middle age and at approximately retirement age is associated with morbidity in old age" due to the perpetuation of disadvantages across a person's lifetime, stemming from their youth onward (Breeze et. al. 277). The persistence of financial standing and respective class ascribed to a person from youth exhibits long-term effects in their social and economic identities. As a result, there are lasting physical impacts such as a lack of health opportunities and morbidity and mortality rates, as well as social impacts such as external perception. The paradigm of individualistic "pulling oneself up by the bootstraps" accounts forr an even playing field for everyone, which is inherently inaccurate; rather, socioeconomic disadvantages often extend beyond brief periods of time and take integral places in one's personal history, and for most, their present as well. The systems that make it difficult to climb the socioeconomic ladder--race, familial wealth status, immigration status, etc.--must be acknowledged. Especially with rising costs of living, the elderly who cannot afford to live in old age homes, have no home of their own, or have no surviving family or family ties to aid them face poverty in increasing numbers. The way that society categorizes class causes the "lower class" to be seen in a negative light: lazy, needy, unkempt, etc. Such external perception of people in this group fails to account for the multitude of circumstances that factor into socioeconomic status in old age and instead correspond helplessness and homelessness with the aging body.

Melancholy Old Woman (1650s)

Another portrayal of the elderly as dejected, crestfallen, and dispirited, Melancholy Old Woman explicitly qualifies the subject of the image as despondent in its title. The solemn facial expression the woman makes, accompanied by the intense shadows in the print and her shoulders slumping forward, suggest a despondent mood. The background is split between an off-white hue and a transition of gray created by lines closely spaced, furthering the dimness of her setting. She looks ahead with a serious stare, eye contact made with the viewer, convincing of the despondent scene the title indicates.

I'm Sure It's Nothing (2000)

In producing a cartoon to raise a point about the health status of elderly people, an aspect of humor is afforded. The seriousness of illness holds gravity as a topic of discussion that can be mitigated by such an approach, to an extent. I'm Sure It's Nothing poses a question regarding the coping mechanisms that people adopt in the context of health. It is obvious that the bump on the character's back is undeniably large, but her denial of it nonetheless shows that issues that are seemingly of considerable nature do not always have to be viewed that way.

A Dismal Outlook (1902)

Caption--Mrs. Stern: "Why don't you brace up and be a man and take the place in society to which you are entitled?" / Languid Lannigan (yawning): "Aw! Ping-pong is sich a bore don't yer know!"

A Dismal Outlook shows a prim elderly woman admonishing a middle-aged man lying on the ground on the outskirts of a rural community. Named Languid Lannigan, he possesses no willingness to exert physical energy to demonstrate what she suggests is his duty. She, notably older than him, sees his behavior as disgraceful and embarrassing, as it differs starkly from what she grew up to understand was a man's role in society. Gender expectations and the perpetuation thereof do not hold the same qualities over time; rather, across generations, there becomes varying degrees of understanding, expression, and attentiveness to responsibility. He engages in games of ping pong instead of real work, derelict in his duties as a man, as the old woman believes. What she sees as incumbent upon him, he does not acknowledge in the same way, suggesting a divergence in external perception when examining the duality of age and gender.

The Census (1890)

Caption--Old woman: “For lan’s sake! What with Tamps takin’ everythin’ they kin lay their han’s on. Young folks takin’ fotygrafs of ye without so much as askin’ an’ impatient follows comin’ roun’ as want for take yer scuses...there won’t be nothin’ left ter take, I’m thinking.”

This source features a census-taker attempting to collect information from an elderly woman, who misinterprets the situation as him taking her senses. She responds with a statement of frustration, expressing that the younger generation takes a great deal without permission and there are not many of her senses left to take anyways. The Census offers a commentary about cognitive sharpness in the elderly, showing how an incline in age correlates to a decline in perceptive abilities. Additionally, the theme of intergenerational frustrations is apparent in the work. The old woman is irked by the unrelenting involvement and constant interference of those younger than her in her life as she calls out their quality of greed.

Eat Your Broccoli! (1961)

Women, across temporal eras and sectors of life, are portrayed to embody elements of comfort, familiarity, and a nurturing nature. This image follows a woman throughout her lifetime, as seen in Eat Your Broccoli! with the old woman running a food station labeled "Mom's Real Home Cooking." The encapsulation of "home" in a woman's caringness attributes love and labor to women's nature of being. In Caring: A Gendered Concept, "concepts of caring as a reflection of discursive practices relating to notions of the family and motherhood" were studied, drawing the conclusion that women are associated with nurturing behavior as exercised in the home environment and elsewhere (Poole and Isaacs). For example, the archetype of the grandmother who always has freshly baked chocolate chip cookies ready for her grandchildren epitomizes this connection.