Revisiting: What Remedy Is Spongebob Squarepants?

I should have known this day was coming…after a certain conversation took place in September:

Maria: I also happen to laugh a lot with SpongeBob! 

My sister’s kids made me watch it and I really like it!  It is very funny!  We should do a quiz about Spongebob, don’t you agree?

Me: Uh-oh, I hope Shana didn’t hear that…..

Shana: Too late!

Me: D’oh!

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So, here it is; and I hope you’re happy, Miss Shana! 

So let me just summarize this video episode of Spongebob Squarepants for you.  Spongebob is in school–Boating School.  All his classmates are supremely bored, as the teacher, Miss Puff, is middle-aged, fat, boring and speaks in a high-pitched sing-song-y voice.  But the time has come for Miss Puff to pick the Hall Monitor of the day.  No one wants to do it but Spongbob, as he thinks it’s some sort of honor! 

Miss Puff doesn’t want to call on him because she knows Spongebob will become so overly emotional about being chosen, he may start crying or jumping up and down foolishly or who knows what!  But she has no choice but to call on him as everyone else in the class has done it.  Predictably, Spongebob becomes overly emotional, gives a long speech thanking everyone for this supposed “honor”; and by the time he finishes with his promises to safeguard and protect everyone in the hall, the bell rings, the class is over, everyone stampedes out the door, and Spongebob looks up at Miss Puff and says, “I did it again, didn’t I?” 

Miss Puff feels sorry for him and lets him wear his Hall Monitor hat and badge home.  However, feeling now very powerful in his “uniform”, Spongebob fancies himself a police officer and presumes to direct traffic at an intersection where the traffic light was out—causing a major traffic pile-up which he seems not to notice.  He moves on to create one chaotic event after another in his capacity as “policeman” until finally the police are after him, calling him the Town Maniac.  It all ends up with Miss Puff going to jail because she was the one responsible for him.

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Let’s start our quiz!  Thanks to Shana, who combed the internet for this exciting video of Spongebob, I now invite you to watch and guess the little guy’s remedy.  The episode is called “Hall Monitor” (season 1, episode 7a).  If you know the remedy, write to me at [email protected] , the answer will be in the December issue.  Now listen, everybody, this video is in five parts, that’s because it’s the only way to get around the copyright laws!  So if you’ll scroll down, you’ll see that you have to click on episode-2 when episode-1 is finished, and so on.  OK?  Shana, roll tape!

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Votes

Nux Vomica-3

Sulphur

Lycopodium-2

Kali carb.

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OK, who’s here to give an answer?

Hi Elaine,

Hi Anurag!

Missed to participate in your last quiz.

I know!  You were conspicuous by your absence!

Let me not be too late to answer this time.

Not to worry, you’re the first one here!

My answer for Songebob’s remedy would be Nux Vomica.

I see……..

Symptoms selected:

Enjoys to take responsibilities

Hard task manager, can’t sit idle, enjoys to do bossy work.

Uh-huh……

Irritable, hypersensitive and over impressionable.

Okaaaaay… Anurag, Spongebob, as I see it, is very gullible.  There’s a rubric in the repertory, “Credulous”.  It means “believing, trusting, unsuspecting”.  Spongebob is like…how can I say… “Little Mary Sunshine”!  While everyone else in his boating class is bored and cynical — including the teacher–Spongebob is actually taking it seriously, even taking notes, writing down every stupid thing the teacher says; plus, he actually thinks it’s an honor to be chosen as Hall Monitor!

There’s another rubric, “Delusion, great person, is” and “Delusion, business, fancies is doing”.  In other words, Spongbob puts on his “official” hat and belt, and “fancies” that he is now “great” and “doing business” — police business!

What else can we observe about Spongebob?  He is very “enthusiastic”, “naive”, “optimistic” (as in “Everybody will love the way I’m being so helpful and civic-minded; I will surely be praised!”), “cheerful”, “extroverted”, “selfless” (thinking of others) and “desirous of being useful”.  And hey, let’s not forget “desires ice cream”, right?  As he and his friend Patrick went into the ice cream store and bought more than one ice cream cone.

These were basically the rubrics I chose, though I may have left out one or two.  So, I believe that the remedy has to be there.  Nux vomica does not care about others, OK?  They have their own best interests at heart, winning at all costs, being first in line, getting the best job, making the most money, they are very ambitious!  In the rubric, “Mind: money, passion for making”; there are only 8 remedies, and only two in bold–Aurum and Nux vomica.

Spongebob is actually very sweet, sincere, well-meaning, with a big imagination.  His only ambition in life is to flip hamburgers at the Krusty Krab, and, as you might expect, he thinks that’s a really great job!  As a matter of fact, Mr. Krabs, himself, is probably a Nux vomica!  Here he is with his big bag of money:

Thanks and regards,

Anurag

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Who else dares to come forward?

Hi Elaine and Shana!  Thanks a lot for Sponge Bob quiz!
Of course my vote for this month’s quiz is Spongia tosta.  If I am wrong I will try again.

Ha-ha!  Spongia!  Of course!

I am joking, I couldn’t help it, obviously, since SpongeBob is a sponge! 😛
Some rubrics emerging from video are:

1. Theorising (he is giving a loooong speech in the classroom).

But I don’t think that’s theorizing, Maria.  As I see it, he has made too much of this dubious honor of being appointed Hall Monitor for the day!  And what does that suggest? He’s naive–you might even say childish, gullible and trusting.

2. Faultfinding (scares the fish couple for leaving their window open on the ground floor, an invitation for burglars)

No, no, no, no, no. He’s “playing policeman”, Maria!  (Delusion, is a great person) and seeing “danger” in situations that he wouldn’t even notice if he weren’t wearing his “Hall Monitor” uniform!  He’s thinking that a criminal could get into this house through an open window, so, he decides to show the couple, “by example”, what the dangers of leaving your window open are, and I guess he didn’t realize they would go screaming out the door!  I’m sure he thought they would say, “Oh, thank you for showing us our mistake, how can we ever thank you?”

3. Foolish behavior (because he is Spongebob)
4. Messy (he creates a chaotic mess with traffic)

He didn’t see the chaos he had created, because he had no idea what he was doing, not being an actual policeman!  There’s another rubric, “Delusion, is conducting business”, I assume he thought he was actually “working”; that is, “conducting traffic” at that broken traffic light!

Desires Ice cream (he eats two of them)

Love of power (the authority that Hall Monitor suit gives)

No, Spongebob doesn’t have a love of power.  He’s happy working for Mr. Krabs at The Krusty Krab, flipping hamburgers.  He is simply overjoyed at having been appointed Hall Monitor!  He thinks that by being Hall Monitor, he can do good in the world!  He can fight crime, like Superman!  I picked “Delusion, is a great person”.

So my vote is Sulphur.

Sulphur doesn’t care about other people, Maria.  Sulphur wouldn’t be “fighting crime”.  Sulphur is selfish, self-involved.

I thought of lycopodium too but lycopodium is more organized and is absent in desires ice cream rubric.

Right and Lycopodium isn’t concerned about the welfare of others either.

If I am wrong I will try again 🙂

What is our famous “desires ice cream” remedy?  Here is what I thought the elements of the case were:

1. Enthusiastic (and that’s a very small rubric, by the way)
2. Naive
3. Wants to be helpful
4. Cheerful
5. Optimistic
6. And as you pointed out, desires ice cream!  So what do you think the remedy is now?

D’oh!  Phosphorus!

Yes!!!!!!

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Who’s next?

Hi Elaine,
Robin Murphy says that if a Medorrinum, a Lachesis, or a Nux vomica walks into a room, everyone notices.

That makes sense….

I think Sponge Bob is a case in point.
My rubrics:
Domineering, disposition; control, others, wants to
Power, love of
Egotism, general
Chaotic, behaviour
Braggart, boaster
Destructive, behaviour
Impetuous
Obsessive, compulsive disorder
Perseverance
Passionate
all came out with a strong preference for Nux vomica, my opinion to the answer to this month’s quiz.

Regards, Wayne

So, that’s another vote for Nux vomica!

I don’t know why people can’t see what I see.  Spongebob is none of these things.  In fact, he’s just the opposite.  Spongebob is naive, trusting, gullible, enthusiastic, sincere, cheerful and optimistic.

The scene opens in Boating Class. Everyone is bored and anxious to go home–except for Spongebob, who is avidly taking notes as if this was the most important class in the world!

When it comes time to select Hall Monitor for the day, the only one who actually wants to be Hall Monitor is, once again, Spongebob!  And so what have we learned so far? Spongebob is like a throw-back to the ’50’s where every stupid thing was presumed to be great and wonderful and no one was ever sarcastic or cynical!  In fact, he’s a little bit like Beaver Cleaver!

So, Miss Puff, the teacher, realizes she has no choice but to appoint Spongebob Hall Monitor for the day because no one else wants it!  Spongbob is so thrilled, he gets carried away and makes a big long speech about how seriously he takes his duties as Hall Monitor and how he won’t let anybody down, he thanks everyone who has made this moment possible, and by the time he finishes his speech, the bell rings, school’s over, and his classmates trample him as they’re running out the door!

Mrs. Puff feels so sorry for him that she says it wouldn’t hurt to let the little guy wear his official Hall Monitor cap and belt home.  Well!  Spongebob feels like a million dollars in his “official” uniform!  He can’t help but think this entitles him to be a sort-of “Hall Monitor” in the community at-large!  So he presumes to step in and direct traffic at a broken traffic light!  Of course, since he’s not REALLY a policemen, he creates a huge traffic pile-up!

Then, upon seeing a house with an open window, he concludes that an intruder could easily get in!  He attempts to show the home owners their hazardous mistake by bounding in through the window, causing them to panic and run out of the house!

In short, Spongebob means well, he’s just an idiot!!!!

So, here are the rubrics I chose:

Talking, excessive, makes speeches

Naive

Optimistic

Credulous

Extroverted

Enthusiasm

Useful, desires to be

Cheerful

Delusion, great person, is a

Delusion, business, fancies is doing

Desires ice cream

So Wayne, what do you think it is now?

I see you think he’s a Phosphorus.

That is correct!!!!  Is anybody else here?

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Hi Elaine, I would give SpongeBob Lycopodium as he loves power and he likes having a person of lower standing to boss around.  He is cowardly behind all his bluster.  Despite these apparent criticisms he is lovable–Anne Grace

Anne, good for you in the sense that you were the only person to discern that Spongebob is lovable!  This is why we should be thinking of Phosphorus right away, and the desire for ice cream is a good confirmation.

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Oh look, it’s Claire!

I don’t know, Elaine; I don’t feel like I am very good at this.

Don’t worry.  I haven’t gotten a lot of votes.  It looks like everyone is confused!

Plus, I haven’t seen a lot of Spongebob, only that one clip on your article; so, I feel I hardly know him, the “real” SpongeBob.

What I noticed at first seemed to be loquacity when he was making a super-long speech. But I am not sure how much attention to pay to that.

It looks like he loves being center of attention, so, that’s a clue.  I used the rubrics “extroverted” and “enthusiasm”.

I picked up on stuff about his sense of duty, his “work ethic” as hall monitor, his drive, his sense of justice, and bringing others to justice.  Wanting to be a superhero of sorts.

“Delusion, great person, is”

Again, is he like this in every episode?

No. Claire.  It’s like this.  To everyone else in the class, being “Hall Monitor” for the day is, well, let’s put it this way, nobody wants to do it!  Except… for Spongebob!  To him, it’s some sort of “honor”, like being an Eagle Scout.  He is sooooooo proud of himself!  I used the rubrics “naive” and “credulous” which means trusting and gullable.  Spongebob is like a throw-back to the ’50’s a la Beaver Cleaver, he’s not the least bit cynical nor sarcastic like the rest of the kids in the “boating school”.  He actually thinks that being Hall Monitor for the day is a big deal; hence, the long speech.

That’s what I don’t know, so I may not really be doing this right, i.e. what I’m supposed to be picking up on.  Would Nux vomica have all that?

Nux vomica would definitely want to be the Hall Monitor if he thought it was actually a position of respect; but, in this day and age of cynicism and sarcasm, the Hall Monitor is probably given no respect at all; therefore, I don’t think Nux vomica would be interested in it.

The duty, justice, heroic efforts?  Mati Fuller talks of Nux for his heroic efforts, and wanting to be appreciated for that.

Right, but, there is an innocence to Spongebob.  It is finally his time to shine!  He is so excited!  In my day, it was the Safety Patrol!   Did you have that in school? You wore a badge and you got to help the little kids cross the street.  That’s what I wanted to be on, the Safety Patrol!  (And I made it too!)  But it wasn’t to be “the boss” or be “in charge”, it was for the honor, the prestige!

Nux is sensitive, so seeing Spongebob wilt when he was scolded after such efforts as a hall monitor struck me…

Well, what happened was, he humiliated himself.  His “acceptance speech” went on for so long, the bell rang, school was over, the class stampeded out the door, and he never got to be Hall Monitor at all!  He wasn’t really scolded.  He said, “I talked too much again, didn’t I?”  Miss Puff felt so sorry for him, she let him wear the uniform home, as a kind of consolation.

Mati also describes Nux as wanting to be “the big boss”.  He was so eager to get selected to be hall monitor and wear that uniform.

Yes, to wear the uniform, but not to be “boss” and push people around.

I probably didn’t get it right but it was fun trying!  My brain is slightly mush, so at the moment (and before I forgot to do it altogether) this is all I have so far.

I thought of Causticum for the justice, but wasn’t sure the rest fit; it seemed too heavy for Spongebob.  Spongebob seemed to really want to take charge.  I thought of Lachesis for that uber-long acceptance speech…

The thing about Lachesis, it’s a rambling kind of loquacity, jumping from subject to subject, not so much a coherent speech, per se.

…almost like a politician, making lots of promises about what he was going to accomplish as hall monitor (though this could perhaps be included in Nux’s determination and goal-setting).  Lachesis can be loquacious, agitated, hyperactive, strong emotions.  Or so I read, on a page for attention deficit issues.  Does Spongebob have ADHD?

No.

Anyway, it is like he wants to be in charge of something, and make judgment calls from a position of authority, or put the law in action, like a little, spongy policeman.

Exactly, Claire, he is “playing policeman” because he is wearing his official Hall Monitor uniform!  But, at the base of it, he is trying to “do good”!  Hence, I used the rubric, “Desires to be useful”.  (See my repertorization at bottom of page.)

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Oh look!  It’s Miroslav of “Miroslav and Jitka”, who, I have on good authority, are NOT roommates!  I repeat, NOT roommates, and not from the Czech Republic as they are from the Slovak Republic, and not both males!  OK?  Make a note of that!

Miroslav answers:

I watched the video, but if you didn´t tell me what was going on, I would have understood nothing … 🙂  Spongebob is a Spongia – at least as a form of animal in the story.  It would be fun if the constitution was Spongia.  The spongia is … in the rubric Mania in the lst grade, but when I looked in the rubric: Ambitious, I would rather use Lycopodium for him.  Also this character (Spongebob) had only little self confidence, therefore he wanted to control everything around, but of course he was incapable … and was without a natural respect of classmates and he messed up even the traffic crossroads …Lycopodium is a remedy from the group Silicea and is notorious with low self-esteem and in a section Mania is in 3rd grade.  (Mania – because the cops were looking for a maniac, but rationality doesn´t exist probably there).  It is but rather speculative, because I didn´t understand the text.  I do not know whether to send it or not, I may try it, I will get a lesson again… 🙂

So, another vote for Lycopodium, and I can only say that Lycopodium would most likely lack the confidence to take on the Hall Monitor position at all and would try to avoid being called on.  After all, they have a fear of being judged (Mind: fear, opinion of others) and a fear of public speaking (Mind: fear, speaking, public, in), and there is Spongebob, speaking before the class, just basking in all the attention, loving every minute of it, and it would be hard to think of Lycopodium in that picture.  But thank you, Miroslav.  Where is Jitka?  Oh, here she is now!

Hi, Elaine; I am not going to solve the quiz this time.–Jitka

D’oh!

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OK, so here is my long-awaited repertorization:

As you can see, Spongebob is a Phosphorus!

I want to thank everyone who voted: Anurag, Maria, Claire, Wayne, Anne Grace, Lynda and Miroslav.  See you back here again next year!

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Elaine Lewis, D.Hom., C.Hom.

Elaine takes online cases! Write to her at [email protected]

Visit her website: elaineLewis.hpathy.com