Preliminary communication
Old age and (dis)ability. Regarding the 100th anniversary of the birth of Simone de Beauvoir
Rajka Polić
; Juraj Dobrila University, Pola, Croatia
Abstract
Facing old age Simone de Beauvoir writes about the existential issues of old people. With her book Old Age she tries to solve the dilemmas inevitably imposed onto an emancipated person by aging. Old age is a necessity of a long life for which we are insufficiently prepared, so Simone de Beauvoir encompasses the theme as an anthropological, economic, sociological, historical, political, and civilizational issue. Written in the form of an essay, the book is extensively weaved through with the personality of the author.
Writing the essay in 1968, the authoress directly participates in that turbulent year. By questioning the possibilities of emancipation in old age, Simone de Beauvoir raised the question which- if we view the events of 1968 as a demand for general emancipation - was still to come for those who were then building barricades on the streets of Paris. In the introduction of her book she emphasizes the interest for old age as a social issue and very critically views the existing social state in which old people are mostly socially marginalized, so she describes old age as a state which does not provide hope, pleasure, or happiness. Therefore people are more often afraid of aging than being able to accept it calmly.
Even though she devotes little of her text to the positive sides of old age, which is understandable considering the time and the circumstances in which the book was created, Simone de Beauvoir still gives the precept of old age as a possibility for emancipation:
“But the truth is that, generally speaking, old age has certain advantages. To be cast out to the margin of humanity means to be able to avoid oppressions, alienations, which are its fate; majority of old people do not utilize this opportunity, but it does present itself to some, and some are even able to use it.”
Yet, a question of what the society should be like in order for old people to feel worthy and fulfilled, immediately arises. What is to be done so they would not become morose, degraded by boredom, and spiritually emptied outcasts barely able to express their humanity. What can one do for oneself to be able to live life to the fullest even in old age, that is, whether it is possible to achieve some form of self-realization in old age which in youth was difficult to, or even beyond reach.
Although Simone de Beauvoir only stirs the question how to nurture for old age, as a time for creation in idleness, her essay encourages the thought about an issue which in the Western world along with its own aging is becoming increasingly central.
Keywords
emancipation; ability; disability; Simone de Beauvoir; aging; being old
Hrčak ID:
36589
URI
Publication date:
26.2.2009.
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