My understanding of this poem is that the speaker has been told/finds out that she falls within the "normal range" for happiness and decides to examine her happiness level based on the understanding that she is "normal": what are her weak areas (choosing the sofa during parties, stargazing too much), what are her strong areas (approving of ice cream, getting out of bed early). In the conclusion, Casper is the happy ghost, playing with a dreidel is reminiscent of happiness and childhood Hanukkahs, she follows the dog even though the dog might not come back, she waves when the boat drifts off instead of panicking, she affirms that she does belong in the "normal" range of happiness because of these things.
Did that help at all? Does anyone else want to chime in?
Only with a tiny correction. It's Casper the "friendly" ghost. I had a friend who was always saying, "Just because I'm kind doesn't mean I'm Casper the Friendly Ghost."
Although, I do think this poem is a spoof on clinical, standardized metrics for happiness. It challenges the notion that doctors, by virtue of the MD, can say that perfect happiness for most or all of the time is desirable, much less measure and define happiness, hence the reference to the juvenile activities, which of course aren't suitable for a grown woman: "doodling stars" and "color[ing] the rainbow."
It's funny but in the past few years I've almost cut "happy" out of my vocabulary because it's so vague, and it comes with a lot of unwanted connotations. "Satisfied," is a better word, maybe.
Thank you for the note on Casper. I also agree that the poet is lightly making fun of the statistician and asking why she cares if she's in the "lower range of normal".
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Did that help at all? Does anyone else want to chime in?
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Although, I do think this poem is a spoof on clinical, standardized metrics for happiness. It challenges the notion that doctors, by virtue of the MD, can say that perfect happiness for most or all of the time is desirable, much less measure and define happiness, hence the reference to the juvenile activities, which of course aren't suitable for a grown woman: "doodling stars" and "color[ing] the rainbow."
It's funny but in the past few years I've almost cut "happy" out of my vocabulary because it's so vague, and it comes with a lot of unwanted connotations. "Satisfied," is a better word, maybe.
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