Hospital experience
The experience of the old man in the hospital is highlighting the idea of the whirlwind experience of medical care. Often, doctors treat patients as a number rather than an individual, and this seems to be the old man’s situation too. He is subject to all these tests and examinations, yet no one actually has a conversation with him about how he is feeling or coping.
Use of medicines
The old man spends his days taking a different pill for almost every hour of the day. He describes these pills by their colours, for example, the “pill that’s kelly green” is distinguished from the “loganberry-colored pills”. To a young reader, this may seem exciting and even sound tasty, but this is not the true reality of the situation. Moreover, the medication seems to showing how much the old man’s health issues have taken over his life and burdened him. From early morning to evening, the old man is plagues by his health issues and cannot escape them. By describing the pills in different ways, he is trying to infuse a little bit of joy and happiness into his life.
Norval the Fish
Norval is shown to be the only source of hope in the old man’s sad life. He is always waiting for him once he leaves the hospital room and whenever he speaks to the fish, it is always in happiness. Norval is the only bright spot in the overarching sadness of the entire story.
Doctors
Older readers, and indeed children themselves, will know that doctors can be intimidating. Seuss seems to agree with this idea, as he lists of the old man’s doctors and they begin to blur into one, “McGuire and McPherson and Blinn and Ballewand Timpkins and Tompkins and Diller and Drew”, making the experience all that more daunting. The use of alliteration also emphasises the notion that all the medical staff are beginning to sound and look the same.
