On Golden Pond – Late Adulthood
1.Asses and discuss the biological/physiological aspects of Norman Thayer. Consider health, physical disabilities and genetic issues.
2.Describe Norman’s attachment style toward his wife, Ethel Thayer and his daughter Chelsea Thayer.
3.Describe the differences in the way Norman and Ethel Thayer face the aging process. What factors might contribute to these differences?
On Golden Pond is a film that depicts aging, vulnerabilities, and challenges as it illustrates the familial and intergenerational themes that we have discussed. Norman Thayler is an 80-year-old man who is married to Ethel Thaylerr for nearly 50 years. They have a 42-year old daughter Chelsea, who is estranged from her father. Norman suffers with
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physical, mental and cognitive decline. His skin is wrinkled, his hair is grey and thinning, and he wear glasses. In the beginning of the film he is frail and shows signs of decreased motor function, and it seems like he is not physically active. He seems to be disagreeable, irritable and unfriendly to everyone except his wife Ethel. He suffers with memory and vision problems as he has trouble remembering old faces and old trails in the forest. It is possible that Norman’s inactivity could be contributing to his memory issues. Studies show that greater amounts of physical activity and higher levels of fitness are related to better cognitive functioning and memory contributing to plasticity of the brain in later life (Erikson, Gildengers & Butters. 2013, p.101). Norman also suffers with a heart condition and takes medication for it. Norman seems to have very strong love and attachment to his wife Ethel as they are in a 50-year relationship. He is dependent on Ethel as he feels more frightened and unaccustomed to being frail and weak. We can see this when Norman confesses to Ethel that he got lost on his walk and needed to rush back to her because he became afraid and unsure of where he was. She seems to be an anchor for him in this point of their lives as she cares and watches out for him. Being in a 50-year relationship with a long-term partner can increase attachment to one as relationship security effects attachment and provides stability throughout life span (Chopik, Edelstien & Fraley, 2012, p.172). When analyzing Normans relationship with his daughter Chelsea we see a completely different attachment style. Norman and Chelsea have an unresolved relationship where Norman rebukes, belittles and sometimes scolds his daughter. He seems to disapprove and ignore Chelsea for not being born a boy and being too fat to do back flips off Golden Pond. This behavior put a strain on their relationship and causes avoidance and unease between them. The avoidance and anxiety between them over time creates issues with attachment between father and daughter as Chelsea avoids coming around to see her father and calls him by his first name. When one is anxious around a relationship, they tend to be concerned with the availability and responsiveness from the individual while worrying about being abandoned which reflects attachment within the relationship (Chopik, Edelstien & Fraley, 2012, p.172). As the story unfolds Norman overcomes the generational friction he has with his daughter through his relationship with Chelsea’s future step son Billy. He begins to relive earlier moments with his daughter through his interactions with Billy. He begins to experience regret around certain behaviors having to do with Chelsea as he starts to change his attitude about their relationship. Toward the end of the film we can see how Norman and Chelsea’s relationship resolves when she calls him dad and acknowledges that she would like to spend more time with him. When looking at the differences in how Norman and Ethel face the aging process we can see a clear difference. In the beginning of the film Norman is bitter and unhappy about aging as he often talks about death. His preoccupation with death and retiring from teaching many years prior has him focusing on the newspaper looking in the classified section for a job, it seems he is missing work. He does not seem to embrace his age and wishes he was back in the past. When we look at Ethel we see a completely different person. she is a happy, excited and an enthusiastic woman who engages in activities that make her light on her feet. She jokes about her age with Norman as they first enter the cottage. Ethel’s ability to be resilient with the aging process and all their ailments can be attributed to Ethel’s individual character traits like being enthusiastic and excited about life, the quality of her interpersonal relationships like the one she maintains with her husband and daughter throughout her life, her ability to regulate her emotions as she never gets angry, her problem solving skills when she rescues her husband from a fishing trip accident , her positive well-being and her healthy life style habits that are all protective factors allowing for positive attitudes toward aging or any problems that may occur later in life (Smith and Hayslip, 2012, p.9). Ted Talk about Life and Death – Dr BJ Miller Discuss how illness and death are treated in society today. Discuss the issues that are present at the macro levels and tie them to the micro (individuals). In this Ted Talk, Dr.
Miller discuses many themes concerning death and illness. It has come to be that society view illness as a time of suffering and burden, where families and individuals are afraid of becoming sick with a chronic illness because of all the pain and suffering that comes along with it. Illness has become about prolonging life with a multitude of excess problems and a more painful life. Families and caregivers become overburdened while the patient suffers while wishing their illness to be anything but a burden to their caregivers. Death in our society is viewed very differently to different people within different settings. In a hospital for instance, death is treated as an emptiness. The existence of bright rooms, white floors, machines ringing, and tied up tubes as a patient dies is very mechanical and represents a businesslike experience as the patient is immediately forgotten after they die while their bodies are quickly shuffled out the door to make room for the next chronically ill patient. Society today views death and illness with unease and apprehension because of the fear around it where people view the hospital environment as a place for acute trauma and illness not a place of healing where one can die with dignity. On the other hand, death in places like Dr. Millers Zen Hospital have developed rituals around topic so when a patient dies there is recognition of the patient’s individuality as a human being. The Zen hospital’s rituals involve …show more content…
sprinkling the body with rose petals as it is wheeled out the door while staff share stories about the deceased or sing a song so that their parting leaves an image of warmth rather than emptiness. Rituals are often tied to religion and spirituality which helps in many religions to cope with the idea of death. Different religions practice different rituals that commemorate the lives the those that have past (Long and Buehring. 2014). For instance in the Jewish religion one is taught to receive and except the death of a loved one as they part to a future world that is better. On a macro level there is no system in place to provide a network in society that accepts and humanizes death, treating illness and death with dignity.
Rather it provides a system that is inhumane revolved around curing which prolongs death, producing suffering and chronic illness. The influx of people that will flood the healthcare system will need specialized medical care as the healthcare industry continues to prolong life. Dr. Miller discusses how an infrastructure is needed to help this population manage living longer with chronic illness. What is needed is a system that accepts and affirms death while catering to the emotional and personal needs of the individual as they die. I believe what he is saying is to show the individual and their body better respect during their detachment with life. This will impact the individual because it will create a system that is revolved around care and comfort allowing life to play itself out without the pain and suffering which will help to cure the stigma around death. Dr. Miller talks about how comfort is a necessary part of death just like food and shelter is a necessary part of life. He discusses ideas around redesigning death, how the senses should be integrated into illness and death so that individuals become more connected to life. Becoming more comfortable around the idea instead of being afraid of suffering by treating the person and not the disease leaving hospitals for a place to heal not a place to live and
die.
On Golden Pond is a movie centering around an elder couple Norman and Ethel who go up to their summer cottage over the summer of Norman's 80th birthday. This story deals with a lot of different issues including aging, love, and family dynamics in a very beautiful, and simple way allowing the audience to really relate the story because of its universal issues. Though there is so much to cover I will mainly be focusing Norman's mental abilities and Norman and Ethel’s relationship with Billy Ray.
In the movie, “On Golden Pond,” Norman who is the first character that was introduce, also the oldest and husband to Ethel. He is in his 80’s, doesn’t get along with his daughter Chelsea, and is in the last stage of Erikson’s theory name integrity versus despair. In the textbook, Exploring Lifespan Development by Laura E. Berk stated, “Integrity results from feeling that life was worth living as it happened. Older people who are
Even though Barbara’s intentions in this paper are directly stated, her claims she gives does not back her argument at all. After reading her major claim, which states that we do not have the right to die (97), I feel the complete opposite of what she thinks and I believe a person should have the right to die if there is no chance of them getting better in the future. The author’s grounds explained all of the struggles of keeping a very sick man alive, which I believe gave me some very good evidence to write my counter argument.
In the movie Norman loses his way trying to find the old road to go pick strawberries for Ethel and becomes scared and frightened telling Ethel I ran to get back to you because I was scared and I needed to get back to you to feel safe. When Norman went out into the woods he did become easily confused and scared unfortunately for some elderly doing something routinely can become scary so easily without warrant. According to (Theris A. Touhy, 2008) “With increasing age and dependency the environment becomes a larger factor in maintaining a sense of security. Anxiety and insecurity increase when situations and conditions become unpredictable”. Norman found himself in a predictable situation starting off going down to a road he always knew but then the situation turned unpredictable so quick and he became and anxious to get back to what was normal and safe. Which happens so quick with the elderly one day the person will wake up cognitive and the next day the same routines can be foreign. It’s important for the care giver to stay the same regardless of the situation and get the patient back on the right track. Ethel after hearing Norman’s story let him know she would walk with him on the route and familiarize him with the road that had become
“On Golden Pond” is the story of changing and evolving family dynamics, and it follows a family that spans three generations. Each of the four main characters in this film are encountering a different stage of life and the challenges and changes that accompany it, with the exception of Ethel and Norman, who are married and both in late adulthood. Chelsea, Billy, Ethel, and Norman all are facing unique challenges and changes in their physical and mental state reflecting their particular stage in life.
Being in hospice care is a better alternative than being stuck in the hospital to try to avoid the unavoidable. Common misconceptions about Hospice could include that hospice makes life more miserable; however, a physician expressed his findings in Hospice,“You can only fail a patient if you fail to understand and respond to their needs. We may not be able to cure all of our patients, but if we can make them comfortable in the last moments of their lives, we will not have failed them”..Hospice care gradually emerged in the 1970s, when groups like the National Hospice Organization were formed “in response to the unmet needs of dying patients and their families for whom traditional medical care was no longer effective.”Herbert Hendin, an executive director of the American Suicide Foundations illustrates a story of a young man diagnosed with acute myelocytic leukemia and was expected to have only a few months before he died. He persistently asked the doctor to assist him, but he eventually accepted the medical treatment. His doctor told him he can use his time wisely to become close to his family. Two days before he died, Tim talked about what he would have missed without the opportunity for a
A divergent set of issues and opinions involving medical care for the very seriously ill patient have dogged the bioethics community for decades. While sophisticated medical technology has allowed people to live longer, it has also caused protracted death, most often to the severe detriment of individuals and their families. Ira Byock, director of palliative medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, believes too many Americans are “dying badly.” In discussing this issue, he stated, “Families cannot imagine there could be anything worse than their loved one dying, but in fact, there are things worse.” “It’s having someone you love…suffering, dying connected to machines” (CBS News, 2014). In the not distant past, the knowledge, skills, and technology were simply not available to cure, much less prolong the deaths of gravely ill people. In addition to the ethical and moral dilemmas this presents, the costs of intensive treatment often do not realize appreciable benefits. However, cost alone should not determine when care becomes “futile” as this veers medicine into an even more dangerous ethical quagmire. While preserving life with the best possible care is always good medicine, the suffering and protracted deaths caused from the continued use of futile measures benefits no one. For this reason, the determination of futility should be a joint decision between the physician, the patient, and his or her surrogate.
Americans at the end of their lives no longer have this sense of continuity and stability. Rituals today are as likely to include tubes and noisy machines, artificial ventilators and unpleasant drug regimens bringing as many unpleasant side effects as health benefits. Many times the dying languishes in a hospital bed, surrounded not by the comforts of home and family but rather by sterility and bright lights, strangers and hushed voices. Death is no longer a mysterious part of a cherished tradition but a terrifying ordeal to be postponed as long as possible, an enemy that must be fought off at all costs.
The concept between life and death cannot simply exist without one another, where the topic is widely discussed throughout “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi. This memoir explores Paul’s definition of death as he passes through the distinct “stages” of his life. As Paul progresses through each stage, he views death differently as he transformed from a student to a neurosurgeon, neurosurgeon to a patient, and eventually becoming a father, where he needed to take full responsibility as an adult.
However it can also make room for medical, legal and ethical dilemmas. Advances in medical technology enable individuals to delay the inevitable fate of death, overcome cancer, diabetes, and various traumatic injuries. Our advances in medical technologies now allow these individuals to do things on their own terms. The “terminally ill” state is described as having an incurable or irreversible condition that has a high probability of causing death within a relatively short time with or without treatment (Guest, p.3, 1998). A wide range of degenerative diseases can fall into either category, ranging from, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease and many forms of cancer. This control, however, lays assistance, whether direct or indirect, from a
The concept of human mortality and how it is dealt with is dependent upon one’s society or culture. For it is the society that has great impact on the individual’s beliefs. Hence, it is also possible for other cultures to influence the people of a different culture on such comprehensions. The primary and traditional way men and women have made dying a less depressing and disturbing idea is though religion. Various religions offer the comforting conception of death as a begining for another life or perhaps a continuation for the former.
Today, medical interventions have made it possible to save or prolong lives, but should the process of dying be left to nature? (Brogden, 2001). Phrases such as, “killing is always considered murder,” and “while life is present, so is hope” are not enough to contract with the present medical knowledge in the Canadian health care system, which is proficient of giving injured patients a chance to live, which in the past would not have been possible (Brogden, 2001). According to Brogden, a number of economic and ethical questions arise concerning the increasing elderly population. This is the reason why the Canadian society ought to endeavor to come to a decision on what is right and ethical when it comes to facing death. Uhlmann (1998) mentions that individuals’ attitudes towards euthanasia differ. From a utilitarianism point of view – holding that an action is judged as good or bad in relation to the consequence, outcome, or end result that is derived from it, and people choosing actions that will, in a given circumstance, increase the overall good (Lum, 2010) - euthanasia could become a means of health care cost containment, and also, with specific safeguards and in certain circumstances the taking of a human life is merciful and that all of us are entitled to end our lives when we see fit.
The subject of death and dying is a common occurrence in the health care field. There are many factors involved in the care of a dying patient and various phases the patient, loved ones and even the healthcare professional may go through. There are many controversies in health care related to death, however much of it roots from peoples’ attitudes towards it. Everyone handles death differently; each person has a right to their own opinions and coping mechanisms. Health care professionals are very important during death related situations; as they are a great source of support for a patient and their loved ones. It is essential that health care professionals give ethical, legal and honest care to their patients, regardless of the situation.
In BJ Millers TedTalk, “What Really Matters at the End of Life?” BJ Miller discusses on how we think on death and honor life. He speaks to the audience about how for the most people the scariest thing about death is not death itself, it is actually dying or suffering. The targeted audience is everyone in the world, because eventually everyone is going to die and everyone thinks about death. BJ 3 has big points in the article saying, Distinction between necessary and unnecessary suffering. Also by having a little ritual that helps with this shift in perspective. Another point is to lift and set our sights on well-being. We need to lift our sights, to set our sights on well-being, so that life and health and healthcare can become about making life more wonderful, rather than just less horrible.
I was very excited to take Death and Dying as a college level course. Firstly, because I have always had a huge interest in death, but it coincides with a fear surrounding it. I love the opportunity to write this paper because I can delve into my own experiences and beliefs around death and dying and perhaps really establish a clear personal perspective and how I can relate to others in a professional setting.