Seussian Simile
Generally speaking, when a writer makes up a brand new word and uses it in simile, it becomes before the “like” or “as” to which it is being compared. After all, the point of the simile is clarification and so the comparison is normally of the unfamiliar word to the thing which is familiar. Early on, this situation is reversed in typically Seussian fashion:
“And if you’re the type that gets finicky-finick,
At this point your try get out of that clinic.
But they will outwit you as quick as a winick!”
Fortunately, it really doesn’t matter that nobody but Seuss knows the true, authentic definition of “winick” since the connotation can be arrived at through context
The Pill Drill
The book’s satirical swipe at modern medicine includes a venture down to room 663 where the American obsession with curing every ailment through the use of a pill comes in for some pointed arrows. The “Pill Drill” is a mechanized voice reciting a verse about remembering which pills to take for what:
“The reds, which make my eyebrows strong,
I eat like popcorn all day long.”
The Hearing Test
The satire focuses on specialists testing in the form of going in for a hearing test. The result of this test is implicated as being a foregone conclusion which is designed merely for the purpose of requiring further testing:
“Then they’ll say, `My dear fellow, you’re deafer than most.
But there’s hope, since you’re not quite as dead as a post.’”
The Hardest Part
The full-tilt tedium of the waiting room being the hardest part of visiting the doctor is symbolized in the character of Norval, a fish in an aquarium who bears witness to everyone who comes to the hospital in need of a doctor. The extent to which the health care system is structured like an assembly line factory is demonstrated through the implied backstory provided by Norval and the narrator’s commentary on his observations:
“And Norval will think you’re a bit of a bore
because Norval has heard the same stories before.
To this fish you’ll become
A plain pain in the neck"
The Oglers
“Oglers” is the name that Seuss assigns to those particularly invasive doctors whose examinations require the removal of clothing. Technically speaking, they are referred to in the text as Clinicians and characterized particularly as those types of doctors who never actually tell you what might be wrong with you in their preference to let the testing do the diagnosing, a situation that Seuss clearly sees as equally invasive:
“The Oglers have blossomed
Like roses in May!
And silently, grimly, they ogle away.”
