Final answer:
Dr. Ganderbai's closing statement in "Poison" is shocking by today's standards because it concludes with racial insensitivity and a derogatory term, highlighting the casual racism of the period.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the short story "Poison" by Roald Dahl, Dr. Ganderbai's closing statement can be considered shocking by today's standards due to its casual racial insensitivity. After a tense scene where a man believes he is being bitten by a venomous snake while lying in bed, it is revealed to be a false alarm. Following the nerve-wracking experience, Dr. Ganderbai calmly suggests that there is no snake, leading to an outburst of relief and unkind remarks from the other character, Harry Pope. Dr. Ganderbai's professional demeanor is met with a racial slur when Harry is alone with the doctor's British colleague, calling Ganderbai a derogatory term. This reflects the colonial attitudes of the time, which would be widely condemned today.
The racial insensitivity and the use of a derogatory term are particularly jarring to modern audiences who have a heightened awareness of racial equality and the impact of hate speech. This ending serves as a critique of the period's societal norms and forces readers to confront the casual racism that was accepted at the time. It also shines a light on the character's own prejudices, which can be just as toxic as the imagined poison.