Attitudes towards ageing in May Sarton’s At Seventy Abstract    As a renowned diarist, novelist and poet in America, May Sarton wrote over fifty books before her death. Among all her works, she is most intelligent in writing journals. At Seventy is one of Sarton’s famous journal about ageing. In this journal, Sarton describes things happen in her later years and shares her inspirations with readers. On the one hand, Sarton wants to treat the process of ageing rationally, but on the other hand, she is afraid of being old and sometimes she has negative thoughts when she is in a bad condition. This thesis will make a deep analysis on Sarton’s attitudes towards ageing and her approaches to overcome ageing according the current ageing situation and the Third Age theory.48004

Keywords: At Seventy; ageing; attitudes; Third Age theory

 探索梅萨藤《七十岁日记》中对于衰老的态度

摘  要梅·萨藤作为一位美国知名女性日记作者，小说家和诗人，一生共完成了超过五十本著作,其中以她的日记集最为有名。《七十岁日记》是她著名的一本日记集，详细讲述了萨藤在晚年时期的所见所闻及生活感触，对待衰老，作者一方面希望理性对待衰老，另一方面又对衰老怀有惧怕之意,在不如意时甚至会产生消极思想。本文将结合当今社会老龄化现状及第三年龄衰老理论，分析萨藤对于衰老积极及消极的态度以及对抗衰老的处理方法。

毕业论文关键词：七十岁日记；衰老；态度；第三年龄理论

 Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Brief Introduction about May Sarton and At Seventy 1

1.2 Purpose and structure of the Paper 1

2.Theories of Ageing 1

2.1 The Definition of Old People 2

2.2 Third Age Theory 2

2.3 Stereotypes of Ageing 3

3. Sarton’s Attitudes towards Ageing in At Seventy 4

3.1 May Sarton's Ageing 4

3.2 Positive Attitudes and Causes 5

3.3 Negative attitudes and causes 7

4. The Approaches to Overcome the Fear of Ageing 9

4.1 Writing 10

4.2 Gardening 11

5. Conclusion 11

5.1 A Summary of This Essay 11

5.2 The Value of the Rearch 12

References 13

1. Introduction

1.1 Brief Introduction about May Sarton and At Seventy

    May Sarton is the pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton (May 3, 1912–July 16, 1995). She is a famous American poet, novelist and memoirist. As a very productive writer, she wrote over fifty books: nineteen novels, seventeen books of poetry and fifteen nonfiction works including journals, children's books and plays. Among all Sarton’s works, she is particularly good at writing journals. In most of journals written in her later life, Sarton describes her solitary life and deals with themes including ageing, solitude, nature, friendship and writing. Although at first overlooked by literary critics, in the later part of her career her works were rediscovered by reviewers and began to gain popularity among women readers.

May Sarton speaks for women, insisting that women should have their own lives. Although May Sarton is a successful female writer in American, she is not quite well-known in China. Only a few of her works are translated into Chinese, so besides researchers, ordinary people don’t have much access to her works.