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Sitaram is Gawande’s paternal grandfather, who lived in a rural village in India, built his farm from nothing, and lived to be 110. Sitaram maintained control of his farm until he died, even going out on horseback every night to survey it. But this came at the cost of some autonomy: he had to be constantly surrounded by family, and tensions often arose as to how to handle the business. This illustrates how when elderly parents and children live together until the parents’ death, it often limits both the children’s and parents’ freedom, particularly because medicine now allows people to live to a much older age.
Sitaram/Gawande’s Grandfather Quotes in Being Mortal
The Being Mortal quotes below are all either spoken by Sitaram/Gawande’s Grandfather or refer to Sitaram/Gawande’s Grandfather. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
The fascinating thing is that, over time, it doesn’t seem that the elderly have been especially sorry to see the children go. Historians find that the elderly of the industrial era did not suffer economically and were not unhappy to be left on their own. Instead, with growing economies, a shift in the pattern of property ownership occurred. As children departed home for opportunities elsewhere, parents who lived long lives found they could rent or even sell their land instead of handing it down. Rising incomes, and then pension systems, enabled more and more people to accumulate savings and property, allowing them to maintain economic control of their lives in old age and freeing them from the need to work until death or total disability. The radical concept of “retirement” started to take shape.
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Related Themes:
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Sitaram/Gawande’s Grandfather Quotes in Being Mortal
The Being Mortal quotes below are all either spoken by Sitaram/Gawande’s Grandfather or refer to Sitaram/Gawande’s Grandfather. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
The fascinating thing is that, over time, it doesn’t seem that the elderly have been especially sorry to see the children go. Historians find that the elderly of the industrial era did not suffer economically and were not unhappy to be left on their own. Instead, with growing economies, a shift in the pattern of property ownership occurred. As children departed home for opportunities elsewhere, parents who lived long lives found they could rent or even sell their land instead of handing it down. Rising incomes, and then pension systems, enabled more and more people to accumulate savings and property, allowing them to maintain economic control of their lives in old age and freeing them from the need to work until death or total disability. The radical concept of “retirement” started to take shape.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
