The Model
If we look at the status the youth has today, it is very obvious the youth is idolized more than ever before and it makes our society less accepting of the age, which makes the youngsters have a higher status than the elderly, and for that reason more powerful. This might seem a bit unreasonable because the elders have more experience, and the youngsters should therefore look up to them instead of the other way around. The media has a lot of influence on this subject, because the youngsters listen to it. MTV is a really good example of the media pushing older people aside and letting young people get the power in form of a huge idolisation. MTV and other youth focussed television shows seem very appealing to young people by the way they make youth seem beautiful, flawless and powerful. At the same time age seems frightning, boring and depressing. This short story is dealing with the relationship between young and old people. It makes me wonder, what is it about youth, that the older people are missing and want back?
The story includes two main characters Mr. Elihu and Ms. Perry. The narrator is telling the story with a use of a 3rd person with Ephraim Elihu’s centered point of view. However, there are comments from them author, occasionally. The story takes place in the living room of Ephraim, and I assume he is a middleclassed man, because he lives in a brownstone house.
I will now portray the two characters mostly in the light of the argument between them. Ephraim Elihu is a former student at the Art Students League, therefore I assume he was talented at art. However art is not only based on talent, but practise too and he has a hard time acknowledging this later in the story, and this explains his lack of self confidence due to his aging. Ephraim is seventy years old and he sees himself as an amateur painter. For a man who particularly loves women, he experienced two big tragedies in his life – the death of his wife and daughter. Therefore,...