May Sarton is good at using plain words to convey her state of mind. Even daily trivials are described as common but gorgeous. Everything happens in her life can be newly interpreted with her life experience. Her words are not well decorated but make readers feel confortable.Through her words, it is easy for us to experience her braveness towards the pain of disease and the beautiful mood she always holds. Although she has to suffer the pain, she still enjoys her life. She is eager to see her friends and receive some concern from them; she is always looking forward to going out; she likes plants, nature and everything vivifying and hopeful. Readers are often affected by her peaceful mood through her description.

Actually, in Sarton’s journals, she displays many daily trivals. Behaviors always have its root in person’s character. Throughout all her journals in Encore: A Journal of the Eightieth Year, some things she displaysed are quite interesting. It is universally believed that old people are mature and have regular diet and routines to keep health. But some of Sarton’s behaviors run into an opposite direction.

In her Encore: A Journal of the Eightieth Year, it is worth to be noticed that sometimes she appears naughty and dependent, just like a “old child”. It seems she has infantile old age.

1.3 Literature Review

1.3.1 Reviewing the Researches on May Sarton and Aging

May Sarton’s works are always the representative of gereology. Some researchers devoted a great deal of time to the studying what’s the aging life like, how to cope with the aging life from her works. 

    In her journals, Sarton also put forward personal understanding of aging with her words. 

    Some researchers chose to focus on her happiness:源`自·吹冰~文;论:文'网[www.chuibin.com

“So the happiness that I am going to discuss in Sarton’s old life is more about her emotional happiness. 

From the concrete science, happiness is related to meeting one’s needs and achieving happiness.

There were quite a lot of happy moments recorded in Sarton’s journal At Seventy. Through the meticulous and detailed description of an ordinary morning, her sense of happiness was revealed. (Zhou Li, 2015)”

    Some were intersted in the fear of dying of May Sarton.

    Chen Rongfang wrote in her eassay in 2015:

    Also in 2010 Deng Tianzhong finished his PHD dissertation, A Spatial Approach to Hemingway’s Aged Characters. In this dissertation, the researcher gave the reasons that why the academic and critical failed to find any interest in the topic of old age. One of them was that “People’s dislike of old age is directly due to their dread of death or more specifically, of ‘dying’—as some would argue that we are not afraid of death, but of dying—the old as social symbols keep reminding us of the fact that one day we all might die”(Deng， 2010).

    These two types seem contrary. They study the thesis from the inner to the outer. They chose one aspect of the life. Then based on the fixed emotional direction, Sarton’s activities and behaviors were studied. This kind of way has its benefit but it is easy to lead the result biased.

But we know from the text that what aging brings to people is not only fearness, despair, but also happiness and surprise.