Paper Example on Carl and Ellie's Life Journey: A Tale of Integrity and Love

Introduction

Integrity is the ability of one to face death with no regrets and fear. One attains integrity after having accepted all the good and bad through their life journey. Despair is the opposite of integrity where one regrets the outcome of their life and sees death as an escape from misery (Zastrow et al., 2016). Carl looks through all the great moments he had with his late wife Ellie in the album. It pleases him to reflect upon all those pictures since it is a reminder of the happiness they shared. Ellie was happy and cheerful and thanked Carl for all the adventures they had through the album and encourages him to explore more ( Nguyen 2009). The thank-you note and Ellie’s happy face on the pictures reflect a woman who in her old age accepted the facts about her life both good and unpleasant and welcomed death without fear or regrets. She did not despair and did not wish it for her husband either.

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Three Key Psychological Adjustments

As old age sets in, it is crucial to adjust oneself psychologically to three things. The first aspect of adjustment is from the working role of self-differentiation. Old age requires one to retire from their work and find a new purpose in life which includes a new identity and interests (Zastrow et al., 2016). Carl’s main interest in life was an adventure through traveling and exploring the world ever since he was a child. (UP Pixar 2019). He found his worth in traveling with Ellie but when she passed on, he lost interest, and by looking at those beautiful moments through the pictures a smile crossed his face due to the realization of self-worth through exploration. (Nguyen 2009). Body preoccupation with body transcendence is the second adjustment. Many older people preoccupy their minds dealing with all the health conditions and differences in appearances that arise due to old age. Other older people, however, learn how to live to the fullest despite all the body and health changes (Zastrow et al., 2016). When Carl comes home to a wrecked house, he puts up everything back into their places as shown in (Nguyen 2009) proofing that poor health cannot stop him from looking after his home properly. The third adjustment entails the shift from self-preoccupation to self-transcendence. One should stop overthinking and panicking about death and instead concentrate on how they can make their death meaningful and happier for those they are to leave behind (Zastrow et al., 2016). Ellie created the adventure book to give her death meaning. Her album brought Carl a smile and hope after she was gone (Nguyen 2009).

Life Review

As one gets older, they evaluate their life by looking through the past and the inevitability of death. Key elements of life review include accepting death and concluding that one’s past was meaningful. If one conforms with the two elements, they tend to be comfortable and content but if the opposite occurs, then despair is the outcome (Zastrow et al., 2016). From Nguyen (2009), it is evident that Carl before perusing his late wife’s album was full of despair. A look through all the adventures he had with Ellie, gave Carl new energy to accept that Ellie had to die because that is the natural order of things. The album also gave Carl the sense of being content.

Self-Esteem & Life Satisfaction

Self-esteem is all about how one feels about themselves and older people need positive feedback from others to feel good and worthwhile. Life satisfaction entails one being psychologically well and satisfied with life. (Zastrow et al., 2016). Ellie gave the perfect feedback to Carl through her adventure book which left him rejuvenated and satisfied since all the sadness disappeared amidst all the happy memories and words of hope (Nguyen 2009).

Low Status and Ageism & Depression

The low status of older people is a result of societal norms where the younger ones deem the elderly as weak hence give them nothing satisfying to handle. Ageism is a negative attitude towards older people by younger people. Older people are subject to depression considering they are at most of the time lonely. Many old people lose their spouses and have to stay alone until their deaths. When a marriage lasts long and one’s partner ends up dead, it is easy for one to be depressed (Zastrow et al., 2016). Ellie died and left Carl heartbroken, anguished, lonely, and depressed. Rusell’s appearance did not help much since it represented ageism and Carl’s low status in society especially when Russell offered Carl some assistance (Disney UK 2009).

References

Disney UK. (2009, Oct 1). Up meet Russell official Disney pixar UK [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08K3WNKt-Lg&list=PLaAajjZZWigZWzBppBmYQrBV6_qV3NrN2&index=17&t=0s

Nguyen, A. (2009, Nov 7). Disney pixar up - picture momentos - Carl & Ellie [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsG2S_1PRnkUP Pixar. (2019, Jan 3). Up intro scene 1440P HD [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Z6Z4TgOtU

Zastrow, C., Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hessenauer, S. L. (2016). Understanding human behaviour and the social environment. (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage.