The complementary self: Multiple perspectives on the aging person

The notion of self in older age has been extensively explored from a variety of disciplines. Using personal narratives, researchers have attempted to identify key features of the articulated self in later life. However, often missing from discussions of the self is a deeper exploration of old age as it is culturally constructed, narrated and interpreted in Western society. Narrative form and overriding cultural ideals often shape what is presented, leaving one to ask whether narratives on aging are more about the cultural identities of the elderly rather than the aging self. This article readdresses the idea of a complex interplay between an active though often unarticulated “complementary” self in tandem with the externally presented self.