Kerala Plus Two English Textbook This is Going to Hurt Just a Little Bit Questions and Answers Unit 5 Chapter 2 (Poem)
Read And Respond (Text Book)
Question 1.
Why does the poet dislike sitting in dentist’s chair with his mouth wide open ?
Answer:
The poet dislikes sitting in dentist’s chair with his mouth wide open because some tortures are physical and some are mental but the dental torture is both.
Question 2.
Why does one find it hard to keep calm while sitting before a dentist?
Answer:
It is difficult to keep calm while sitting before a dentist because your jaw is down into your chest as you have to keep your mouth wide open.
Question 3.
How, according to the poet, does one lose one’s dignity before a dentist?
Answer:
According to the poet, one loses one’s dignity before a dentist because of many reasons. It is difficult to be in self control, when your jaw is down into your chest and your mouth is wide open. Your fingernails are scratching your palm making serious changes in your life line, love line or some other important line. You feel helpless as the dentist does what he wants in your mouth!
Question 4.
What makes the circumstances terrible?
Answer:
The circumstances are made more terrible because 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.
Question 5.
What, according to the poet, is the danger in using a mirror for the treatment of dental problems?
Answer:
The dentist uses a mirror for the treatment of dental problems. 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. Like that there is the danger of the dentist getting mixed up and pulling out a tooth on the left side instead of pulling out the one on the right, the one giving you trouble.
Think And Write
Question 1.
Comment on the aptness of the title of the poem. (Mark 2)
Answer:
The title of the poem is very apt. The title is: “This is Going to Hurt Just a Little Bit”. But the fact is it is going to hurt a lot! The title itself is an exaggeration as the poet makes the pain of going to a dentist much less than it actually is. I would also say the title is a bit too long.
Question 2.
The poet compares the mouth to a section of a road that is being repaired. Do you feel any exaggeration in it? Find out more such instances in the poem. (Mark 2)
Answer:
There is great exaggeration in comparing the mouth to a section of a road that is being repaired. Some other instances of exaggeration in the poem are:
- Your jaw digging into your chest.
- Your fingernails are making serious alterations in your life line, love line or some other important line in your palm.
- There isn’t a nerve in your head that you aren’t being irked on.
- Your teeth are supposed to be polished but they are demolished.
- The dentist is a bear.
- He takes his crowbar in one hand and mirror in the other.
- He then coats your mouth from cellar to roof with something generally used to put a shine on a horse’s hoof.
Question 3.
Go through the notes and examples on Exaggeration and Simile given on page 149.
“And your mouth is like a section of road that is being worked on. ”
What effect does this poetic device produce in the poem? Find out other similes used in the poem. (Mark 3)
Answer:
The simile in the line quoted above is a powerful one as it depicts the pathetic condition of the mouth of the patient. The mouth is kept widely open, “your jaw digging into your chest”. There are all sorts of instruments with which the dentist will repair your teeth. So the mouth is the section of the road and the instruments the dentist uses are the equipment used for repairing the road. Of course, the simile is mingled with exaggeration and thus has a double effect.
Other similes in the poem:
- The dentist is called a bear (This is, strictly speaking, a metaphor).
- The instrument used by the dentist is called a crowbar (metaphor).
- The polishing of the teeth is compared to the polishing of a horse’s hoof (implied simile).
- The patient tottering to his feet, like a drunkard (Implied simile).
This is Going to Hurt Just a Little Bit (Poem) Edumate Questions & Answers
Question 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.
Answer:
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 could riot 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 tooth¬pastes that promised bliss. But nothing worked. The pain started eating into 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.
Question 2.
Tooth decay is a severe health problem among youngsters these days. Unhealthy food habits and the craze for junk food aggravate this problem. A dentist maintains the health of our teeth. A few do’s for maintaining the teeth are given below.
- You must brush your teeth daily.
- You ought to eat healthy food.
- You should consult a dentist once in a while. Now, write three don’ts for maintaining oral hygiene. (3 Mark)
Answer:
- Don’t eat too many sweet things like ice-creams.
- Don’t forget to brush your teeth before you go to bed.
- Don’t chew things that are too hot or too cold.
Question 3.
Imagine that one of your friends wants to get an appointment with a dentist in your locality. He wants to know the fee, timing and the exact location of the clinic. You make a telephonic call to get the details. Prepare the likely conversation. There should be at least four exchanges. (4 Mark)
Answer:
I : Hello! Good morning! Is that the Canewell Dental Clinic?
DC : Good Morning! Yes, this is the Carewell Dental Clinic. I am the booking clerk here. What can I do for you?
I : I would like to have an appointment with Dr. Saifu.
DC : Appointment with Dr. Saifu? When do you want it?
I : This evening if possible.
DC : This evening! Hmmmm, let me see. What is your problem?
I : I have a problem with my Wisdom Tooth.
DC : Dr. Saifu has a tight schedule this evening. Is it okay if I give you 8.00 p.m.?
I : It’s fine. I want to see him today itself as I have too much pain.
DC : Okay, come at 8 o’clock.
I . : Thanks! What is the fee for consulting?
DC : The fee for consultation alone is Rs.250/-. But other services and medicines, there will be extra charges.
I : It’s okey. Bye.
Question 4.
And your mouth is like a section of road that is being
worked.
a) Who is the speaker here?
b) Why is the ‘mouth’ compared to a section of road that is being worked?
c) What is the poetic device used in these lines? (3 Mark)
Answer:
a) Ogden Nash/The poet
b) When the road is being worked, you find digging, cleaning, drilling, filling and so on. Here the same thing is happening to the mouth. The dentist is digging, drilling and cleaning and filling.
c) Simile
Question 5.
And thus, O Fate, is I think the most vicious circle
that thou ever sentest
a) Who speaks these words?
b) What is referred to as ‘vicious circle’ in the stanza?
c) Why does the poet use archaic words like thou’ and ‘sentest’ in these lines? (3 Mark)
Answer:
a) Ogden Nash
b) Vicious circle means a situation in which the solution to one problem creates a chain of problems, each making it more difficult to solve. Here the narrator visited the doctor to solve the problem with his teeth and the doctor suggested that he should visit after three months. So his attempt for one solution created a chain of problems.
c) This poem is a humorous one. By using the archaic words he wants to bring some mock solemnity into the poem as if the clinic is like a church or something of that kind.
Question 6.
Read the following lines from This is Going to Hurt Just a Little Bit.
Because some tortures are physical and some are mental
But the one that is both is dental
It is hard to be self possessed
With your jaw digging into your chest
Explain the idea behind the above lines in a paragraph. (4 Mark)
Answer:
Some tortures are physical and some are mental. But the dental torture is both physical as well as mental. It is difficult to be in self control when your jaw is down into your chest. When you are sitting in a dentist’s chair, the doctor asks you to open your mouth. When you open your mouth wide, your lower jaw touches your chest. Your mind is imagining all sorts of tortures by the probing of the dentist to locate the spot causing the trouble. In such a situation a person loses his confidence and self control. The poet here beautifully expresses the situation when a patient is sitting in the dental chair.
Activity: (Critical Appreciation)
Question 1.
Write a critical appreciation of the poem referring to the theme, the tone of the poem, and the poetic devices used in it. (Mark 8)
Answer:
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 repairwork 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 mirrorthe 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 keep 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 he 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 tojnake 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.
Read the poem by Sophia Borger on page 149 and team to laugh so that you make your burdens lighter!
This is Going to Hurt Just a Little Bit (Poem) About The Poet:
Frederick Ogden Nash (1902-1971) was an American poet. He is well known for his humorous poems. His poems are noted for their surprising pun and comic effect when words are deliberately misspelt. The exaggeration he uses gives his poems a special charm. The poem ‘This is Going to Hurt Just a Little Bit’ tells the poet’s experiences when he visits a dentist.
This is Going to Hurt Just a Little Bit (Poem) Summary in English:
Stanza 1: One thing 1 least like is sitting in a dentist’s chair with my mouth wide open. I always hope against hope that I will never have to do it again.
Stanza 2: Some tortures are 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.
Stanza 3: It is difficult to retain your calm when your fingernails are scratching your palm making serious changes in your life line, love line or some other important line.
Stanza 4: It is hard to give your usual cheerful goodness when you know that you are in a position in life which lacks dignity. There are only 2 or 3 occasions in life when this happens.
Stanza 5: 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.
Stanza 6: Some people are unfortunate enough to be strung up by thumbs. Others have things done to their gums. 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. The Romans call a bear ‘ursa’. The bear (dentist) 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.
Stanza 7: At last he says that is all. He coats your mouth with something that is used to shine a horse’s hoof. You get on to your feet with difficulty and think that | it’s all over now. After all, it was just once this time. But then 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 keep 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.
This is Going to Hurt Just a Little Bit (Poem) Summary in Malayalam
III. Read And Reflect
Adjustment and reconciliation are oils that help life to run smoothly. To have good relations with others, we ought to respect their feelings. We should also be ready to sacrifice some personal interests. At times people may laugh at us. Still we can try to change the way of the world.