Healthy Aging The Straight Story

Question: Discuss about the case study Healthy Aging for the Straight Story. Answer: Introduction: Alvin Straight is a 73-year-old stubborn man who lives on his social security and follows simple living. He has a failing health and does his things on his own terms. He comes to learn that his brother named Lyne Straight has suffered a heart attack. Alvin has been estranged for last ten years from his brother and the news of his failing health brings on the desire in him to make peace with his brother. Therefore, he decides to go and meet his brother but faces problem with his eye sight, drivers license and his ill health with diabetes. During his trip, he gets affected by those whom he meets on the trip and wishes to finish the trip on his own for the good. Figure 1: Alvin Straight The Straight Story (1999) Developmental Stage Alvin Straight is a 73-year-old man who is living his older age which is termed as the wisdom stage for the lifespan developmental stage. During this stage, the aged individual looks back to his life and reviews his accomplishments. This stage is characterized by integrity and despair where the aged individual looks back at all the productivity of his life (Loeffler, Raab Caal-Bruland, 2016). Physical signs of normal aging have been portrayed by Alvin where he has a failing health due to diabetes, he has poor eyesight and he is suffering from emphysema due to prolonged smoking and needs canes to walk. All these features are the signs of normal aging and his developmental stage is reflected from his feelings of relationship towards his ailing brother who have estranged since long. Representation of Aging Alvin Straight represents a positive representation of aging where despite his lost relationship with his brother, he takes up every pain to meet his dying brother one last time. Although Alvin is not a sophisticated man, yet his words are strong enough to leave permanent impression. These are the manifestations of aging where maturity is developed in thoughts and a person becomes more selective of his words (Torres et al., 2015). Relationships matter the most with aging and as life comes to an end, people tend to value their ignored relationships as well. Alvin resides with his retarded daughter and takes care of her and during his road trip, he recollects his passed days of marriage and courtship with strangers. All these factors collectively point towards positive aging where his behavior and personality reflects his aging with grace and love for his family. Acceptance of Aging The goal of acceptance of aging in the society should include changing the relationship of the aged individual with the negative effects by engaging them with the emotional experiences in a way that is non-judgmental (Gual, 2015). The Straight Story is an odyssey of the journey of Alvin Straight, the protagonist, to his past to meet his dying brother where his love and responsibility towards his brother has been beautifully depicted. Although the society accepts the aged population as a separated group from the younger ones and portraying of this character in the movie will have a profound effect on the older adult population as a more caring and responsible group (Von Wyl Beck, 2014). This movie has laid down the fact that older population is no less in terms of family bondage and should be accepted openly in the society to promote healthy aging. References Gual, N. C. (2015). Ambivalent pathways of progress and decline: The representation of aging and old age in joanna McClelland glass's drama.Theatre Research in Canada = Recherches Thtrales Au Canada,36(1), 106. Loeffler, J., Raab, M., Caal-Bruland, R. (2016). A lifespan perspective on embodied cognition.Frontiers in Psychology,7, 845. Torres, T. d. L., Camargo, B. V., Boulsfield, A. B., Silva, A. O. (2015). Social representations and normative beliefs of aging.CieÃÅ'‚ncia sauÃÅ' de Coletiva,20(12), 3621. Von Wyl, V., Beck, K. (2014). Risk adjustment in aging societies.Health Economics Review,4(1), 1-14.