After
reading "The Use of Force" by William Carlos Williams I had this
weird liking to the story, essentially, because what I thought what was going
to happen in the end. Sorta... When I read it a second time, I could see
a few elements that made the story "come alive." We are
presented, in the beginning, these poor, uneducated, or ignorant, parents with
a sick daughter.
As the doctor arrives, he notices right
away that the girl has a fever she has been hiding from her parents. As
the parents and the doctor are talking, the doctor immediately gets mad because
the parents try to convince the girl that the doctor won't hurt her. We
can see how the plot in the story becomes tenser with every passing second the
girl does not want the doctor to get close to her. We can infer that she
has been suffering from the sickness for a while and is really scared of what
might happen to her.
As soon as the girl rejects the doctor,
he gathers an air of determination. He becomes tougher, trying to create
a strategy to maybe get the girl to open her mouth for the diagnosis. We
might conclude that the girl understands what is happening, but she decides to
act innocently so she doesn't have to face her reality.
The use of force in the short story is
somewhat accepted. We can see how the parents agree on restraining the
little girl to get her checked up. It is only because of the girl's rash
actions that she gets hurt and suffers from the doctor's checkup.
-I once heard a
man say: sometimes, one person has to sacrifice his humanity to save a great
number of people; and even though the people might think him a monster.-
I believe that monsters are within us & win...
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that the use of force was necessary in the case the doctor was facing because well, he needed to diagnose the girl in order to give her proper treatment so she wouldn't die like some of his previous patients. The girl was just running away from the truth.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that after thinking that the story was a symbolic rape, reading your second line "I had a weird liking to the story," is not a good combination of thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI understand that doctors have to tough work, and sometimes we don't understand why do they do it, but they are trying to save a life. But the doctor in this story wanted to hurt the little girl, and that is not okay in any way.
ReplyDeleteI see the story as a symbolic rape, around wrong but thats how I get it. Nice analysis though.
ReplyDeleteHello Nicolas! I found your analysis of the short story very accurate however I pose the question as to if you think that the violence is somewhat accepted (based on your second to last paragraph), why was the mother told to leave the room?
ReplyDelete~~~Paula