Representation of Aging in Samrat Upadhyay’s Selected Stories

Abstract

This research explores the ways of depicting the concept of aging in some of the stories of Samrat Upadhyay’s collection Arresting God in Kathmandu (2001). The paper studies the age of the characters from five stories: “The Good Shopkeeper,” “The Cooking Poet,” “Deepak Mishra’s Secretary,” “The Room Next Door,” and “This World.” The stories cherish the young age and view old age in a very stereotypical way: the old age becomes a negative category in which people lose vigor and activity. By cherishing the life and energy, the stories unfold a serious truth about the old age that Nepali people have not been able to enjoy their life in the old age. The characters want to quench their physical, social and psychological desires by preparing themselves to take up various actions in their life. Their endeavor to avoid anxiety and stress fails because of negative perceptions regarding ageing. The paper has followed textual analysis through close reading. Furthermore, the frame of analysis is taken from the literature on aging and the research on literary gerontology as it has appeared as one of the promising fields of the study. Key words: Aging, Longevity, Society, Psychology, Function.