The Depiction of Old Age in Six Basal Readers

Six commonly used basal readers were examined to determine how the aged were depicted. The results indicated that although the aged were shown in a positive manner, rarely were they the main characters of the stories and rarely were their personalities fully portrayed. An adjective checklist revealed that the aged typically were shown as active, kind, wise, and hardworking. They rarely were portrayed as fashionable, attractive, or good‐looking. Illustrations also tended to be stereotyped, with women portrayed as bespectacled, wearing aprons and their hair in bows, and sitting in rocking chairs. Men tended to smoke pipes, be bald, and wear suspenders. These results tend to substantiate those of previous studies.