The Use of Force Analysis

In his short story “The Use of Force,” Williams Carlos Williams puts a bad taste in your mouth about how the doctor acts towards the little girl known as Mathilda. He actively grasps her jaw, holds her down, and ends up making her mouth bleed. When people read this story for the first time, they could see the doctor as a cruel person who does not care for the well-being of children, or even that he does not like children and wants to hurt them. However, I believe that the doctor is justified in his actions of force and should be commended for his successful diagnosis.

Before we can get into the nitty gritty of the doctors situation, we have to talk about some background about how Williams presents his story. This story takes place in the Great Depression era. This can be seen because of a couple clues the author gives in the story. The first words the mother says are “you must excuse us, doctor, we have her in the kitchen where it is warm. It is very damp here sometimes” (2) With this statement, we learn that this is a relatively poor household because the only warm place in the house is the kitchen, where the food is prepared, and that it gets damp inside other areas of the house every so often. There is another statement made by the narrator that says, “that’s why they were spending three dollars on me.” (3) three dollars seems very little to us for a personal house visit of a doctor but that is the point being made that there is not much money to go around in the times of the great depression and people have to make money wherever they can. Diphtheria was a common disease in this time period and did not begin to phase out of existence until widespread vaccination was commonplace. As of 2003, there have been no cas...

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...he will not let her die in their parents arms in the coming hours. He is dedicated to this diagnosis and goes in one last time, this time with a spoon.

“I overpowered the child’s neck and jaws and forced the heavy silver spoon down her throat until she gagged” the doctor describes. Then he sees that the tonsils are covered in a membrane. This is the last piece of evidence that the doctor needed to confirm that this child does in fact have diphtheria. She was trying to hide it from them all along. The doctor’s mission was a success. All that the girl needs now is proper treatment and the doctor can go home and enjoy the fact that he has saved another life today.

Works Cited

Williams, William Carlos. “The Use of Force.” The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing. Ed. Rise B. Axelrod and Charles R. Cooper. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013. 501-03. Print