Great Scott! Gadzooks!

Great Scott! Gadzooks!- Roald Dahl (1916-1990)

Summary

The narrator of the poem "Great Scott! Gadzooks!" discusses the advantages and disadvantages of youngsters viewing television. If a child watches television for an extended period of time, their intellect becomes dull and unimaginative. They used to spend endless hours staring at the television. They never engage in physical activities like playing, running, leaping, etc. If they came upon television, they would be able to watch it for so many hours that their eyes would eventually shut. They enjoy watching entertaining TV shows, commercials, and cartoons, which causes them to lose their ability to think critically and creatively. They discovered pre-made items there, saving them the time and effort of having to come up with new ideas. As a result, they become less creative. The children are truly hypnotized by television; it turns them into drunks.

However, if the kids watch TV, they never fight, climb on the window, or engage in other unpleasant behavior of the same nature. Family members have more time to engage in other activities at home if they watch television. Their parents can help out around the house with chores like cooking, cleaning, and laundry. But the kids don't think it's more important than watching TV. The mind of a child is incredibly soft and sensitive, and watching television may cause rusts to flood that mind. They are unable to create fantastical worlds or be motivated by reading. They turn out to be so boring, pointless, and useless. They lose their vision while having eyes.

We can state with great assurance that the kids back when television had not yet been invented were also content. They used to read amazing and wonderful stories, plays, novels, and poems, which causes them to reflect and imagine while also boosting their creative capacity. They used to read, hear fascinating stories from their parents, hear fascinating history, and play games instead of watching television, and they used to be extremely content without it. It allows them to achieve happiness and satisfaction without turning on the TV, such a monster. Therefore, we parents now endeavor to provide such things for our kids. The television must be removed, and in its place, we must preserve a bookcase stocked with intriguing books. We must be mindful of the fact that they cannot accept losing the TV and that they can become violent as a result. However, after a few weeks they can resume their normal lives while still reading books. And if they become dependent on reading, they will never watch television again. We can occupy them with reading, singing, dancing, playing, creating beautiful artworks, traveling, etc.

Application of Four Levels

• Literal Comprehension
  • In the poem "Great Scott! Gadzooks!" the author highlights significance by emphasizing particular features, placing them in the foreground, and emphasizing the emotional consequence produced by those features. It establishes a tone through form and metaphoric language that can alert people to the detrimental effects of television on children's growth and development and serves as a reminder of the benefits of reading for pleasure. Our kids shouldn't be allowed near the television. We might be better off not installing it at all. Children watch television in almost every household until their eyes start to close. They watch television while seated till they are completely intoxicated with awful things and hypnotized. We let them watch television because they don't fight or act inappropriately and let us go about our daily business without interference. However, we never anticipated that watching television would damage their imagination, creativity, and senses, leaving them unable to comprehend fictitious worlds and even think at all. If you take the set away, they will initially be upset before starting to read wonderful literature like older kids did.
• Interpretation
  • This lengthy poem's message is that children's development and growth are negatively impacted by television and that books are forgotten as a result. By replacing the television with books, he seeks to alter the way parents teach their kids. The poem contains a really interesting rhyme that, despite its length, keeps the poem amusing to read all the way through. The variety of literary methods used throughout the entire poem adds to the poem's vitality. The poem appears to be split into two prominent parts, though. The voice in the first section discusses the television. The voice that first stood out in the poem communicates feelings of ire, fear, and intense unease toward the role that television plays in children's development in contemporary society. Even worse, it presents a pessimistic viewpoint about television, which is ironically portrayed by the usage of words with a bad connotation. The voice discusses books as the finest companion for children's growth and development in the second section. As we get to this section, the voice becomes softer, cheerier, and even rewarding. The voice's use of allusions and euphemisms reveals a more positive and receptive attitude toward books. This is the aesthetic that makes it intriguing to evaluate Dahl's television turn.
• Critical Thinking
  • The struggles that every parent faces are nicely captured in this poem. It is true that other from their curriculum and textbooks, pupils don't read any more high-quality novels. However, the poem disregarded the benefits that viewing TV had for kids. Yes, I did observe kids viewing a lot of television. I haven't come across any kids who lost their imagination through watching television, though. Despite this, I saw that kids were more imaginative and engaged in the show when they watched both informative and creative shows that aided in their academic success. And I also have a question: Do all television stations exclusively show cartoons and serials? They cannot broadcast educational programming.
• Assimilation
  • This poem has given me new insight into how and why kids spend so much time in front of the television. I am also aware of the drawbacks of kids viewing TV. It makes them hypnotized. I was aware that if kids watched television for a long time, they might grow bored. I was aware that it would harm young people's impressionable minds. Knowing how to keep our kids occupied without allowing them to watch television for extended periods of time made me happy. Rather than providing them the opportunity to view it, I will instead tell them engaging stories. On their birthdays and other special events, I'll give them books. And I'll be helping my community's educational environment flourish. I also learned the reasons behind how the younger generation thinks. They have learned a lot from various sources, including television, both good and terrible. Due to television, modern culture has been fast altering.

Referance

(Bastakoti, (2007). A Combined Guide To Compulsory English. Kathmandu: Kalyani Prakshan)