Plus Two English - This is Going to Hurt Just A Little Bit - Notes

THIS IS GOING TO HURT JUST A LITTLE BIT

1. The poem "This is Going to Hurt Just a Little Bit" presents a humorous incident in a dentist‟s clinic. The narrator had a difficult time with his rotten teeth. Do you agree with the views presented in the poem? Do you have a similar experience to share? Now, share your experience of visiting a dentist.

                   One of my friends used to say jocularly that he is afraid of only two things: a cobra and a dentist. I never thought a dentist is so dangerous. But I was wrong! The problem was with one of my molars on the left upper jaw. I co uld not bite anything or drink anything hot or cold. It would pain me as if somebody was piercing me with a knife. I tried all kinds of toothpastes that promised bliss. But nothing worked. The pain started eating me. So I decided to go to a dentist. He looked a gentleman and his smile was captivating. He asked me to sit in the dentist‟s chair and asked me to open my mouth. I told him where I felt the pain. He started probing with some sharp instrument. After pressing at a point he would ask me, “Is it here?” I would say “No”. Then suddenly his instrument went deep into my cavity! Oh My God! I screamed! “Don't worry,” he told me. “It is just a cavity. I will fill it. It will hurt a little. Don't worry.” Then he inserted his injection needle and gave me some numbing injection. After that he started grinding my tooth. I have seen mine workers drilling holes in the rocks. I was feeling as if the whole world is collapsing. I was convulsing with pain. But he went on saying, “Just a little bit more,” his vicious smile intact. Finally he filled the cavity with some dental cement. He then asked me to keep my mouth tightly shut for the cement to harden and hold. I thought the ordeal was over. The he came with the bill which gave me greater pain! Rs. 1000 to fill a cavity! This really hurt me more than the pain I had when he was drilling and grinding my poor molar. I remembered the smile of the cat that has the rat in his clutches.

2. Write a critical appreciation of the poem referring to the theme, the tone of the poem, and the poetic devices used in it.

             The poem “This is Going to Hurt Just a Little Bit” is a very funny poem by Ogden Nash. It describes the feeling of a person going to a dentist. Going to a dentist is really a very unpleasant experience. Sitting in a dentist chair with one's mouth wide open is not something that anyone likes. Some tortures and physical and some are mental but the dental torture has both.

It is difficult to be in self control, when your jaw is down into your chest. Your fingernails are scratching your palm making serious changes in your life line, love line or some other important line. You are in a position which lacks dignity. Your mouth is like a section of the road on which repair work is going on. It is all cluttered up with stone, crushers and concrete mixers and drills and steam rollers. All the nerves in your head are affected.

 

Your teeth are supposed to get polished. But you think they are demolished. What terrifies you more is that it is done with a mirror. The dentist looks like a bear. He takes a crow bar in one hand and a mirror in the other. How can we be sure he won't make a mistake? Because in the mirror the left is right and the right is left. When we try to tie a bow tie with the aid of a mirror we tend to get mixed up. Will the doctor pull out the wrong tooth? Finally he coats the mouth with some harsh polishing stuff.

 

The shock comes when he says we should go back to him before the end of three months. The poet feels that

Fate sends this most vicious circle to man. Man has to go to the dentist continually to ke ep his teeth in good condition. The man wants his teeth in good condition because he does not want to go to the dentist. It is a real paradox.

 

The poet has used simile, metaphor and personification very effectively. The dentist is called a bear. The instrument used by the dentist is called a crowbar. The polishing of the teeth is compared to the polishing of a horse's hoof and we see the patient tottering to his feet, like a drunkard. There are many exaggerations also in the poem: The patient's jaw digs into his chest. His fingernails are making serious alterations in his life line, love line or some other important line in his palm. There isn't a nerve in his head that isn't being irked on. His teeth are supposed to be polished but they are demolished. The dentist takes his crowbar in one hand and mirror in the other. The dentist polishes the mouth as if he is polishing a horse's roof.

 

Ogden Nash is fond of misspelling words. This he does for pun or some funny effect. Thus we see words like “hopen” and “sentest”. Ursa is a Latin word and "thou" is the Old English form for "you". The poem does not have regular stanzas. It is in free verse. It has fine rhythm and we find rhyme in it. Open-hopen, mental-dental, calm- palm, benignity-dignity etc. are some of the examples.

 

Nash has tried to make a painful situation into a light one. When we go to the dentist next time, we can feel more relaxed as we realize that the feelings we get when in the dentist chair are very similar to all the others who have to visit the dentist. We all want our teeth to be clean so that we don't have to go to a dentist. And the paradox is that to keep our teeth clean we have to go to the dentist. Nash has put it in a nice way.