Getting a Dose of Your Own Medicine
The overarching theme of the book is play upon the title. The marvelous medicine that George concocts is designed specifically for one purpose: punishing his grandmother for the abusive way she treats him when they are alone. The consequences of the medicine that George creates ultimately gains the greatest revenge by turning the tables directly upon one of the means of her mistreatment. The story opens with Grandma insisting George make her a cup of tea which, of course, he can never get quite to her specifications. The book ends with her mistaking his medicine for a cup of tea and, after drinking it, disappearing completely.
Senior Care
On a much darker level, the ending of the book—specifically Mrs. Kranky’s reaction immediately following her mother’s disappearance—certifies the story’s thematic commentary on the role of caregiver to aging parents. Mrs. Kranky’s mother—George’s maternal grandmother—is the very model of the type of cantankerous and not especially pleasant aging parent who can severely upset the smoothly operating mechanism of a typical nuclear family. When his mother-in-law finally does disappear—a metaphor for dying—Mr. Kranky makes no attempt to hide his joy. His wife initially falls into a more complex and confused Kubler-Ross type emotional state before very quickly reaching the final stage of grief: acceptance. Her observation that her mother really was something of a nuisance and that the new domestic state of the household in which she is now permanently absent is likely for the best.
