Sarah Holland-Batt

I mean, that's the kind of

The common thing in all of these texts, you know, it's somewhere in the 60s, somewhere in the 70s, that age has remained kind of consistent over time in these literary texts, the age of extermination, the age of perceived lack of use to society.

And we see that replicated in the way that we treat, you know, people once they reach retirement.

You know, I know a lot of people, my mum retired recently and a lot of her peers have retired around the same time.

And there is this kind of crisis there.

that people can experience where they're not, you know, when you're no longer working, well, what worth are you?

You know, that kind of, that question.

We align so much of our work, so much of our worth with our work in the way that we value our lives, what we contribute to our communities, what we contribute to our society.

A lot of that is tied up with our jobs.

And so once that ceases, there is this, there can be this crisis where you think, okay, well, I've worked all my life for retirement.

but I'm now perceived of less value than the people who work.

And I think that idea is replicated very, very strongly in these kind of fictional examples as well.

A little bit.

But, I mean, I think it's, for me, the trajectory of thought is

is really important.

If you're going to change it, you have to understand the kind of conditions that produce this kind of thinking over time.

And so for me, it was frustrating in a sense to think, my God, centuries ago, people were writing these novels about killing people off when they reach a certain age.

And it just showed to me how entrenched that kind of thinking is

And so it wasn't the cheeriest reading that I've ever done, Kate, but it was, I think, important for me as I'm trying to actually materially change that thinking or play some part in shifting that thinking to understand, I suppose, the trajectory of it.

Well, it's, I mean, it was time.