Dramatization of Old Age in Joanna McClelland Glass' Trying

Abstract

Old age is an inevitable stage in man’s course of life; however, the changes that occur because of aging are not always pleasant. The decline in the physical powers affect the social and the psychological sides of the individual’s life, in addition to the knowledge of the approaching death. The Canadian born playwright, Joanna McClelland Glass, is one of the dramatists who reflects the complexities and challenges of old age in her plays as she portrays the effect of the passage of time on her characters. Her works examine age and aging as cultural constructs to show different social ideologies. Trying depicts the various effects of old age on an old man whose work with his young secretary helps him in having adoptive and successful attitude towards aging which has replaced the anguish feeling and the state of depression that he had at the beginning. He is able to approach death gracefully.