The perception of age has changed greatly in American culture, a sharp contrast to the ever-evolving meaning of adulthood and maturity for each following generation. Age, like many intangible concepts in America, is fetishized to an idealistic degree. The old yearn for their youth. The young scramble for their age. That's what television and pop culture would have one to believe. If age is defined by its typical definition, the length of time that a person has lived or a thing has existed, one can see how people have conflated it with other words. Words like experience, wisdom, power and respect. But by opening the curtains and letting the light in, there can be a decision made for about how important is the meaning of age. Within the publishing world, there are genres of books that tend to be highly debated because of their subject matter. The ones in particular …show more content…
Living long. Living well. Few humans back then could succeed at surviving so long. Those that did, they were seen as role models for the community. A well-spring of experience and knowledge for the young to soak up as they went to seek their fortune. This sort of association with age and wisdom made sense back then but as technology and life expectancy went up, it became less of a truism to follow. As they say, “Age is nothing but a number.” and it is doubly so in the modern age. The workforce is constantly in influx. The old and the young claiming high paying jobs, discovering new technology and battling one another for relevancy. In conclusion, the perception of age has greatly changed but only envisioned as so in American culture. Age is the catch-all word people use when they are actually referring to experience and wisdom, concepts that cannot be easily quantified. However, adulthood and maturity still continue to florish and