On The Pleasures of No Longer Being Young

On The Pleasures of No Longer Being Very Young

                                                                     -  G.K. Chesterton

G.K. Chesterton’s essay, “On the Pleasures of No Longer Being Very Young” analyses the advantage of old age. With the help of humour, paradox and frequent allusions, getting old is a universal experience. This experience can tell us the relevance of traditions in the ever changing modern world. This essay was written after the great economic depression in the 1930s when the new industrial economies have completely collapsed and modern man had learnt a lesson of being too proud of his knowledge.

People look at the advantages of old age in a sentiment way. All old men are supposed to be happy and kind like Santa Clause and wise like the classical Greek figure, Nestor. Young men do not believe that old age is actually enjoyable and elderly people are more adventurous and romantic. Old people know that they are not aware of many new things but they are happy in their ‘fool’s paradise’ as they can go on bearing new things.

People feel that many things are growing younger as one becomes old. Young men think that traditions and customs are outdated and useless but old people with all their experience realize that traditions are not outdated, they are practically useful so they have continued to survive through centuries. The author says that proverbs are repeatedly used only because they are practical. Proverbs are best understood in the old age. Old age is the ‘second childhood’ because in the old age one can understand the real meaning of everything.

Proverbs and the human history offer us practical wisdom but people fail to understand that wisdom. The economic depression represents the failure of modern industrial world. It could have been avoided if people remembered the old lessons given by many proverbs. It is always said that the luck and money are all temporary and that pride and disrespect will lead to a great fall. This has been proved by the downfall of emperors like Napoleon, Charles and the great Roman Empire but modern man does not learn anything from these examples. For the writer witnessing the economic depression is to ‘to see the dead proverbs come alive’.

Young people cannot understand the newness of new things because they have never experienced the old things. Old people have the experience of understanding the old things; so they can better understand the difference between the old and the new. The writer gives an interesting analogy that we cannot feel the rotation of the earth because we have never experienced a situation when the earth did not rotate. If the earth stops its rotation and starts moving in the opposite direction then only we will understand how it feels when the earth rotates.

Old people can also understand if a new thing is really new or a comeback of old things. If someone says that these days people don’t go to the church, so the village church would be replaced with a chemical factory, the oldest villager would say that in his childhood even fewer people went to church. Similarly, young people say that the modern world does not believe in the supernatural. But earlier no educated villager believed in ghosts whereas a modern scientist like Sir Oliver Lodge, conducts research in parapsychology and paranormal activities.

This essay discusses the eternal conflict between the old and the new from a realistic and practical point of view. He presents a practical advantage of getting old. The tone is scholarly as the writer proves his arguments with classical, biblical, historical and literary allusions. He point out many funny details of common life. Paradox and word play bring gentle humour to the essay. Finally, this essay can be understood as a defence and validity of the old.