Breaking the Social Norms for the Aged

Hello everyone, and welcome to another article form Comic Chronicles.

At the time of writing this article, the year is 2023, and we are living in Gen Alpha. When we compare our current generation to the previous generation, we will be able to notice that our current society has much less social barriers, and we are under less expectations from society as a whole. Who knows, maybe in there future generations, more an more barriers of social expectations may be eradicated! However, there is one generation that we must consider: The generation of our grandparents. 

I will use two poems to further explain this interesting topic, which are 'Grandma Climbs a Tree' by Ruskin Bond, and 'My Grandma' by Victoria Cornwall. The former of the two narrates poetically the story of the poet's grandmother, who is a young-spirited woman who loved to climb trees. However, she is viewed as peculiar and adamant by her family members and others. Eventually, she receives an opportunity to climb a tree, which she does, though it does not end on an entirely well note, as she was advised a week's time in bed. However, she did not enjoy her time in bed at all, as she is one who loves adventure. After she was all well, she decided that she wanted to have a treehouse to live in, which her son, the poet's father, agreed to, and the story ends on a happy note.

The latter of the poems describes the poetess' grandmother, who enjoyed knitting very much. She would knit all day and all knight, making woollen gifts for everyone, regardless of whether they like it or not. The poetess tries to object to the grandmother's passion for knitting, to which she replies that she loves knitting and that it is her heart and soul. Her knitting hobby continued, and her final woollen gift was a woollen wrap. After that, she had left to an island called Yarn, with a sheepshearer, where she continues her knitting craze.

Now, the common idea between both the poems is Breaking of Social norms, through the symbols of two persistent and free-spirited grandmas. Especially in the poem by Victoria Cornwall, the poetess is at first, sceptical of her grandmother's passion, but eventually learns to appreciate it. 

This brings us back to the original message. Why do we have certain expectations for certain people? Some of us would, in a way, stereotype the older, ignoring the fact that everyone is different and everyone cannot be expected to follow a 'social norm', be it us, our parents, our grandparents, or anyone, regardless of race or gender.

Thank you for reading this article.