Why I Like the Hospital : Workbook Answers –
Question 1: Comment on the title of the poem “Why I Like the Hospital”.
Answer: The title of the poem is quite unusual. Normally hospital is a place which is associated with the pain, sufferings and even death but when the poet says that he likes hospital it seems quite weird.
Then in very first line, the poet answers his own question as he says –
“Because it is all right to be in a bad mood /
there”
It is only in the hospital that being in a bad mood is acceptable and nowhere else.
The poet adds by saying –
“I like the hospital for the way it grants /
permission for pathos”.
The poet observes that the hospital is the only place which allows the free expression of passions. It is the place where you can express your inner feelings openly and freely.
In this civilised modern world, people have become so impersonal and self-centred that they allow no scope for expressing their feelings openly. Expressing your agony in the public is appeared to be a sign of weakness.
But hospital serves as a setting for authentic emotional expression and deep intense emotional moments.
It is in this context that the poet likes the hospital for the hospital’s ability to evoke emotion.
Thus, the title of the poem is appropriate.
Question 2 : Why does poet like the hospital ?
Answer: The poet like the hospital, because it is “all right to be in a bad mood” in the hospital which is not possible anywhere else.
The poet observes that the hospital is the only place which allows the free expression of passions. As he quotes in the poem –
“I like the hospital for the way ot grants /
permission for pathos”.
In this contemporary materialistic world people have become so impersonal and self – centred that in their life they would never express their feeling publicly. This stifled feelings lead to depression and loneliness which results in physical and metal ailments. But hospital provides a place where there is no restriction in expressing of “pathos”.
The poet also likes seeing in the hospital some people counting in their notebooks, their good and bad deeds, done by them in their lives.
The poet further says –
“I lie the long prairie of the waiting/
the forced intimacy of the self with the /
self”
Here, the poet appreciates the hospitals for their loneliness which results forced intimacy of the patients with themselves. The lonely patients in the hospital are waiting for their loved ones to meet them. Their long and continuous wait is like “long prairie”. This constant waiting forces them into self intimacy, self reflection and introspection. This might lead to forced self exploration and a deeper awareness of oneself.
Question 3: What scenes of human suffering are depicted in the poem?
Answer: The poet also describes some heart rending pictures of human suffering in the poem. During his visit to the hospital he is moved to see a mother with cancer, who tries her best to remain strong for her children’s sake.
The mother is struggling to reveal her cancer to her children. Then there is another patient, a bald girl looking pathetically at the tube installed above her amputated breast. The girl might be a cancer patient or survivor who has lost her hair and a breast during her treatment. The girl may be preparing herself to remain strong disregarding the loss she experienced due to her ailment. She seems to be very depressed as she has to live with this loss throughout her life.
The poet also sees an old ugly woman walking with an intravenous pole.
He also remembers once he saw a terminal patient sobbing without shame in the open, expressing his helplessness and rage. This presents a pathetic picture where he struggles to console himself despite there is no hope for him to survive and also no one is there to calm him down with comforting words.
By all these depictions, you can feel the air of pain and suffering of various patients in the hospital.
Question 4 : Describe the stat of mind of the terminal patient. How does he conduct himself ?
Answer: The terminal patient is in a state of profound despair and helplessness. The patient wearing a yellow – green gown, bent over a chair. He was not shouting in anger or despair at the doctors. He was not making a phone call to his wife in a slow indistinctive manner. He was even not pretending to be strong. Rather, he was sobbing openly, giving vent to his innermost feelings – of despair and anger.
This scene presents a heart touching picture of the dying man crying helplessly alone. A sense of terror strikes in our heart when we find him holding his own hand and saying some final words to himself before he meets his death. He was listening to every word uttered by him. He was speaking to none but himself, for there was no one to listen to him and no one to hold his hand fondly in sympathy, love or affection.
The complete breakdown of the man further lends a menacing situation inside hospitals which however is also the essence of modern living.
Question 5: How does the poet use the concept of ‘ waiting’ in the poem and what does it signify ?
Answer: The poet uses the concept of ‘waiting’ as a metaphor for the state of mind of patients in the hospital.
The poet quotes as –
“I like the long prairie of the waiting /
the forced intimacy of the self with the/
self”
Here, the poet compares the long continuous waiting of the lonely and isolated patients in the hospital with the long and continuous grasslands – “prairie”.
The scene conveys the loneliness and isolation of the patients. It presents the plight of a lonely and sick person that he has nobody to talk but himself.
This long – continuous waiting signifies a state of uncertainty, vulnerability and introspection. It’s a time when individuals are forced to confront their own mortality, reflect on their lives and hold on or deal with their emotions. This waiting forced them to self – discovery and self compassion.
Question 6 : The poet satirises the tendency among most of us to pretend to be strong. Comment.
Answer: In the poem ” Why I like the Hospital”, Tony Hoagland satirises contemporary human life for many of its failing and weaknesses.
In this poem he has taken up a common issue – looking upon the open expression of feelings as a sign of weakness or abnormality. He feels that stifled emotions are bad for one’s physical and mental health.
Only in the hospital people can express their emotions, they sob and cry while everywhere else they suppress their real feelings in order to look strong and self – controlled.
Although there is hardly anything likeable in the hospital but still the poet like the hospital “for the way it grants permission for pathos”.
Indirectly he satirises the tendency to pretend to be happy when you are not. For this reason he likes hospital.
Question 7 : How does the poet use contrast in the poem ?
Answer: The poet uses contrast to effectively to highlight the disparity between two different environment in the same hospital.
At one side he explain how he dislike “the smell of antiseptics” and the “air – conditioning set on high all night” which indicate the harshness of the environment in the hospital. On the other side he like the hospital for providing a space for self reflection. At this stage of their lives some patients begin to evaluate their past actions and choices. They construct a mental list of the time when they “Acted Like a Fool” and the times they “acted Like a Saint”.
This introspection and reevaluating life’s priorities add a human element in the hospitals.
Apart from this the use of “all right” with “bad mood” in the opening like also present a contrast.