In American Literature and Culture

GRANDPARENTS

Types of Grandparents

In American arts and literature, we see different types of grandparents, representing different views of the elderly.

Wise•This character helps teach young people in the family

•They share history, knowledge, and traditions

•They are respected and honoured

Judgemental• This character is often unloving and cold.

•They are difficult to please and usually criticize the family.

• Other family Members don’t enjoy spending time with them

Burden•This character is quite helpless

•They often live alone or in a nursing home.

•They don’t have closerelationships with their family.

Why are grandparents often represented as helpless or burdensome?

Family structure changes

•More and more Americans move out of their hometowns for school or careers. Families are more spread out than before.

• In divorced or blended families, there may be bad relationships between family members. Some grandparents don’t get to see their grandchildren because of a bad divorce.

They represent history

(…but America looks forward)

•Social change has happened quickly in the USA. Many elderly people still hold opinions that were normal in their era, but considered inappropriate today.

(race, gender, immigration, etc)

•Many American families come from other countries. Often, young people want to get involved in American culture and forget the more traditional cultures that their grandparents represent.

Younger and Newer = Better

•Sociologists call America an “ageist” culture. It is a society obsessed with youth.

• It is a young civilization, which values progress but doesn’t have the same respect for tradition as older cultures.

• In American culture, people value ability and intelligence. If elderly people can’t work or lose their brainpower, they aren’t valued as much.

It’s changing

•American culture is becoming more influenced by its Asian, Latin American, and African-American subcultures.

• In these cultures, families are typically much closer, and the elderly are honoured and respected more.

•Technology is also making it easier for families to communicate.

On the Simpsons…

•What is Grandpa Simpson’s relationship with his family?

•How is he represented at the beginning of the episode? At the end?

• Is there anything that surprised you about this episode, and how old people are treated in the USA?