Doing What We Can: A Gay Son's Tale of Caring and Devotion—Personal Narrative as Sociology

Abstract

Personal narrative as sociology is an attempt at writing narrative constructions that intersect the personal with the sociological. This style of storytelling is founded on the assumption that—through the personal, the social, and the intersection of the two—one can learn about individual and collective actions and meanings as well as the social process by which social life and human relationships are made and changed. This paper is a representation of one gay man's personal account of his love and devotion for his elderly mother. Much of my own telling of this narrative focuses on unpacking Peter's public account of filial care. The narrative itself becomes a site for a complex set of readings and re-readings of Peter's central themes. In doing so, I make Peter's public story of caring more symbolic and, hence, more private by revealing what motivated him to be such a devoted caregiver in the first place. Peter's personal narrative is a rich source of sociological insight into the world of caring.

KEYWORDS:

• Elder caregiving
• storytelling
• parent-child relationship
• narrative method

Notes

1. Editor's Note: Rambling refers to walking or meandering about the countryside.

2. Editor's Note: Six stones are the equivalent of 84 pounds. (There are 14 pounds to a stone).