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Different Ways to Hurt: An Elderly Woman's Narrative of Suffering

Different Ways to Hurt: An Elderly Woman's Narrative of Suffering This article presents and interprets the case study of an elderly woman's story of suffering. It results from interviews conducted with African-American and Caucasian men and women, aged 70 and above, concerning their personal definitions, attributions, and theories about suffering. Elders' experiences of suffering were examined under the rubrics of gerontology, narrative, and religious studies. Key themes offered in this case study are: (a) How the life course unfolds because of or despite suffering, (b) what moral status an elder confers on past or present suffering, (c) how a personal sense of the sacred accommodates suffering, (d) how this particular respondent alters her identity based on assimilating the “new” information of suffering, and (e) how the story of suffering stands out against or blends in with the backdrop of the life story. The uniqueness of this case study also mirrors commonalities of elders' narratives of suffering, particularly those of women. This elder's story demonstrates that “smaller” individual suffering is rooted in the frame of the “larger” public world. It also illustrates that the language women use to attribute, define, and theorize suffering is embedded in relationships. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Aging and Identity Springer Journals

Different Ways to Hurt: An Elderly Woman's Narrative of Suffering

Black, Helen
Journal of Aging and Identity , Volume 7 (1) – Oct 13, 2004
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Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 by Human Sciences Press, Inc.
Subject
Social Sciences; Sociology, general
ISSN
1087-3732
eISSN
1573-3491
DOI
10.1023/A:1014354314987
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This article presents and interprets the case study of an elderly woman's story of suffering. It results from interviews conducted with African-American and Caucasian men and women, aged 70 and above, concerning their personal definitions, attributions, and theories about suffering. Elders' experiences of suffering were examined under the rubrics of gerontology, narrative, and religious studies. Key themes offered in this case study are: (a) How the life course unfolds because of or despite suffering, (b) what moral status an elder confers on past or present suffering, (c) how a personal sense of the sacred accommodates suffering, (d) how this particular respondent alters her identity based on assimilating the “new” information of suffering, and (e) how the story of suffering stands out against or blends in with the backdrop of the life story. The uniqueness of this case study also mirrors commonalities of elders' narratives of suffering, particularly those of women. This elder's story demonstrates that “smaller” individual suffering is rooted in the frame of the “larger” public world. It also illustrates that the language women use to attribute, define, and theorize suffering is embedded in relationships.

Journal

Journal of Aging and Identity – Springer Journals

Published: Oct 13, 2004

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