Essay on Benjamin: Old Age and Nursing House

Submitted By shotime2801
Words: 1468
Pages: 6
Open Document
Who doesn’t get older and dies? Of course, no one can. However, if you watch the film The curious case of Benjamin Button, you can see a difference progress that a men who grow younger and dies. Along with his awkward aging, his journey through American and other societies is an invaluable experience for us to see how “aging and the elderly” and “social changes” influence our current society.
To illustrate the point “aging and the elderly”, the film mentions the character Benjamin who was born at the time America won World War 1. There are three main points to illustrate that point: infrastructure, culture and idea.
The beginning of the film happens during the 10s; the time of the traditional American society. Specifically, Benjamin’s mother gave birth to him at the night when the American celebrated the victory of their nation. Unfortunately, she had died before she could see her child. When Mr. Button (Benjamin’s father) got home, his family doctor sadly announced that his wife had passed away and his son had suffered “something”. He pushed the doctor aside and took his son, and then he realized his son’s appearance wasn’t like human. It looked like the appearance of 80-year-old men. He screamed, he shouted, he cried, he cursed the life desperately. He took Benjamin and ran; finally, he put Benjamin on the door step of the nursing house with a small change. We don’t know why such a wealthy man like Mr. Button could be selfish like that. Did he afraid that he couldn’t have enough money to raise Benjamin – Of course not. Did he scare the appearance of him? Or He just get shocked by his wife’s death? Or another reasons? By analyzing the society when Benjamin grew up, we could find the answer. Now, we come back to live of Benjamin. During his childhood, Benjamin lived in a nursing house that lacked many facilities. In the nursing house, there was just one piano for the old pianist women to entertain. Besides, the rooms and hall were so small for many old men to have their own privacy. At night, people sat on the wheelchair in front of the doorstep and meditated their past. A kid like Benjamin couldn’t stand that boring life, he tried to move his wheelchair to outside but Ms Queenie didn’t allow. She said that the outside world would not accept the boy who had the very old appearance like him. As Benjamin grew younger (which means people got older), sometimes he had a chance to go outside. He got on a bus, visited park, met some people and even his father on The Thanksgiving 1930. The world around him was so wealthy; many people who visited the nursing house wore beautiful and bright dress, and there were so many cars ran on the street. However, the way they treated him didn’t reflect their bright personality; when Benjamin walked, people looked at him with the curious eyes. In addition, one day he went with other old man to the local harbor to find a job; Captain Mike looked at them and then announced that he would pay $2 per day for them to work on his tugboat. While the other old man took the Captain Mike’s proposal as an insult, Benjamin accepted it. Although Captain Mike allowed Benjamin to join his crew, he always asked Benjamin to do some jobs like “Scrape off all this bird shit”. However, when Benjamin confided his unlucky life, Captain Mike felt sorry him because he had been lived on the tugboat when he was seven, just as his father. He even wanted to help Benjamin to have a life of a freeman. After a tired trip, he took Benjamin to a bar to have some drink; he asked Benjamin “What did your father do?”-“I never met my father”. He laughed out loud and said “You lucky bastard!”-“All fathers want to do is hold you down”-“Anyway, I finally work up the nerve and tell him”-“I don’t want to spend the rest of my life on a goddamn tugboat”. To some people at that time and even today; if you have a father or even a father that can give you his experience and property; you may have a happy life.
Show More

Related Documents: Essay on Benjamin: Old Age and Nursing House

Clara Barton Research Paper

December 25, 1821, in Oxford Massachusetts to parents, Stephen and Sarah Barton (“Clara Barton” summary 10). Clara was the youngest of five children in the Barton household, she grew up as a very shy child (“Clara Barton” Biography 1). At age 11, Clara’s first nursing experience consisted of when her brother fell from a barn rafter causing serious injury (“Clara…

Words 1287 - Pages 6

Harriet Tubman Research Paper

March of 1822 in Dorchester County, Maryland. Her name that was given to her at birth was Araminta, but later she changed it to Harriet. It was believed she did this in honor of her mother. Her mother was named Harriet Green Ross and her father was Benjamin Ross, they raised their nine children in Maryland. She had four sisters and four brothers, making her one of nine children. Harriet Tubman and her family were slaves and were continuously separated from each other, but they always fought to see one…

Words 1642 - Pages 7

Stephen Girard: The Founding Father

hard during the day, that when the night comes I may be enabled to sleep soundly.” Stephen Girard was a hard worker, and started at a very young age. Girard dipped into several areas of profession throughout his lifetime, ranging from farmer to banker, however it was his mercantile experiences that served as the base of his profitable career. At the age of fourteen, Stephen Girard headed for the high seas. Going back and forth between St. Domingo and the French West Indian possessions, he observed…

Words 4003 - Pages 17

What Is The Context Of The Great Gatsby

University and married Zelda Sayre. He was an American author of novels and short stories, including; This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night, the curious case of Benjamin Button. His stories explored themes of youth and promise along with age and despair, and many have been adapted to TV or film. Only Fitzgerald’s first novel sold well enough to support the opulent lifestyle that he and his wife adopted as New York celebrities, and so, Fitzgerald supplemented…

Words 4737 - Pages 19

Harriet Tubman Research Paper

enslaved people, family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. During the war, she served as an armed scout and spy for the United States Army. In her later years, Tubman was an active advocate of women's suffrage. Tubman was born around 1820, in Dorchester County, Maryland. Tubman's mother, Harriet, was a slave who married a free black man, Benjamin Ross. Her father, Ben, was also a slave. Tubman had nine brothers and sisters, all of…

Words 3369 - Pages 14

Example Research: Critical Discourse Analysis Essay

18 Critical Discourse Analysis TEUN A. VAN DIJK 0 Introduction: What Is Critical Discourse Analysis? Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is a type of discourse analytical research that primarily studies the way social power abuse, dominance, and inequality are enacted, reproduced, and resisted by text and talk in the social and political context. With such dissident research, critical discourse analysts take explicit position, and thus want to understand, expose, and ultimately resist social inequality…

Words 9518 - Pages 39

School: United States and New England Colonies Essay

work on tobacco plantations for a period of time to pay for passage to the New World. ← Jamestown, established in 1607 by the Virginia Company of London as a business venture, was the first permanent English settlement in North America. The Virginia House of Burgesses, established by the 1640s, was the first elected assembly in the New World. It has operated continuously and is known today as the General Assembly of Virginia. QUIZ #4 Interactions among Europeans, Africans, and American Indians…

Words 5412 - Pages 22