Monday, October 31, 2011
Blog #5
The other day in class we discussed the topic of widowhood and as part of that we discussed the widowhood effect. To be honest, I have never heard of of this concept of having a spouse die and this result will in turn lead to your own death. I came across an article the other day from the Seattle Times that discussed this concept. In this article a couple has been married for 81 years and then his wife died and within the next 48 hours he died. The article pointed out that he would always say that he could never live without his wife and what is interesting to me that he was not just saying that, he probably believed in his mind that the bond they had was so strong and there for so many years that once he did end up going that he was not going to be able to go on without her. I don't know about anyone else but when we watched the clip in class about a spouse dying I can see why people would not know how to cope without the aid of a spouse. I found that clip to be very beneficial to clarifying a topic that I did not know about. Also this article was the Seattle Times also showed me more about the topic than I previously knew. I find this topic to be very fascinating how two people can be so connected that they have their lives relying on one another.
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I think this topic is extremely fascinating as well. It reminds me of the notebook when the two die holding hands together. I always wonder if people can really die of heartache which seems to be what happened in the Seattle Times article. Although this is not a spousal relationship, I think the idea of dying of heartache can be seen often. I remember when I was little and my aunt died young, sitting with my grandma, my aunts mother. My grandma looked me in the eyes and told me that now that she lost her baby, she was forever dead too. The next years of my grandma's life she really did become more dead for she never really left her house and lived in depression. I think whether you physically die, like the man in the article, or die emotionally after the loss of a spouse, the idea of heartache from loosing someone defiantly has the ability to 'make you die' in one way or another.
ReplyDeleteOh the movie Notebook made me cry, it was so touching! I think you, George, raised a very important question in class - if there is any evidence of widowhood effect for the younger couples and I spent some time trying to find articles on this issue. Unfortunately the ONLY time when widowhood effect is talked about in the literature is in relation to the old couples! Therefore widowhood effect happens either only at the later life (and consequently might be just a combination of depression and poor health at the old age) or this topic was just never raised and studied.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of the widowhood effect is so interesting! I also thought of when this happens in The Notebook and I can see how it would be so hard to lose someone who was such a big part of you and not want to live on. Such a feeling of loss, especially in later life, I think can be powerful enough to cause the widowhood effect. It would be interesting to see more research and stories on this topic!
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