“The Use of Force” by William Carlos Williams Essay
Introduction, plot and meaning of the story.
William Carlos Williams was a well-known American poet whose poems and stories were appreciated around the world. One of his stories that received a lot of attention in the literature field is “The Use of Force” because of the way it illustrates the use of force over powerless individuals. William’s story gives a detailed account of how human mind can be influenced by the pressure of attaining a particular goal or objective.
He uses a doctor, who is the main character in the story, to show what doctors go through when treating patients and hard choices they have to make. Although the goal of the doctor is to ensure that patients are healed, in the story, he ends up hurting the kid. The following paper analyzes William Carlos Williams’s story “ The Use of Force ” to understand the plot and meaning of the narrative to prove that the use of force by the doctor was justifiable.
The story portrays a doctor who does his best to save the child’s life by use of force. Although the doctor tries to reason with the kid, the child fails to open her mouth for medical examination. For example, the doctor says, “…Mathilda, open your mouth, and let’s take a look at your throat”; however, the patient refuses to cooperate. The doctor’s professional ethics guilds him to first interact with the kid and try to reason with her on the need for treatment, but the child is unwilling to cooperate.
In some situations, people are compelled to make choices that will hurt others for them to achieve the desired objective. The result intended directs an individual action and not the means to use when attaining the goal; this is illustrated when the doctor dominates the kid during treatment by forcing her to open her mouth. Williams’s story questions if the use of force can be justified by the result intended by the aggressor.
Due to the extreme energy used by the doctor, the kid’s tongue started to bleed, making her cry. The use of force may hurt others, but later, they will enjoy the result intended by the oppressor. For instance, after the doctor forces the kid to open her mouth, he discovers the illness affecting the child, which will make treatment easy, and the child will regain her health. The need to treat the child overpowers the doctor’s gentleness and compassion.
Goals intended by an individual may motivate him or her to use means, which society does not approve, such as the use of force. Professional roles sometimes conflict with the personal attributes of an individual. For instance, in the story, the doctor has an obligation of ensuring that he treats his patients in a gentle manner. However, he is agitated by the child and decides to use force to handle her. When means of achieving a particular objective are difficult, or impossible people tend to search for alternative ways.
In conclusion, the doctor justifies his actions by claiming that the goal was more important than the means used to attain it. The need to achieve a particular objective motivates an individual to use unconventional means to accomplish his or her aim. The story gives an insight into what happens in people’s daily life as they try to achieve different objectives.
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IvyPanda . ""The Use of Force" by William Carlos Williams." April 16, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-use-of-force-by-william-carlos-williams/.
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"The Use of Force" and Other Stories Background
By william carlos williams.
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Written by Polly Barbour, Eda Atalay
"The Use of Force" is a story first published in 1938 as part of a compilation of work by William Carlos Williams . It tells the story of a doctor who is summoned to make a house-call to a family whom he has never met before, and who finds the child he is called to attend to strangely captivating and beautiful. Whilst the parents are respectful of the doctor, the child is not, kicking and clawing at him like a savage as he tries to examine her. In the course of her tantrum the doctor falls in love with her wildness, aware that his feelings are utterly inexplicable and entirely inappropriate. The forcible throat examination seems less of a throat exam and more like a rape.
The story was an immediate talking point because it raised so many ethical questions. One of the main subjects that it dealt with was how difficult it was for doctors in the 1930s to diagnose and assess medical situations in sometimes hostile environment amidst many other pressures, including the nervousness of parents who were worried about their unwell children, responsible use of their medical knowledge and power, and also the darker sides of their nature that might make them want to act in an inappropriate manner.
This story was first published as a book in its own right in 1938, and was subsequently published in 1984 as part of a book of "doctor stories" and poems by Williams, describing various experiences of physicians. Williams is considered to be one of the foremost writers on medicine and diagnostics, and his work is chiefly based upon occult knowledge, empathetic diagnosis and basically "gut feeling", and not the scientific, objective type of medical diagnosis that Williams was extremely suspicious of. Williams had a long and respected career as a physician, specializing in pediatrics, and also a respected career as a writer.
Williams was affiliated with Passaic General Hospital in New Jersey where he served as the hospitals's Chief of Pediatrics. The hospital changed its name to St. Mary's General Hospital and paid tribute to Williams with a plaque that proclaims, "We walk the wards that Williams walked."
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“The Use of Force” and Other Stories Questions and Answers
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Study Guide for “The Use of Force” and Other Stories
"The Use of Force" and Other Stories study guide contains a biography of William Carlos Williams, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.
- About "The Use of Force" and Other Stories
- "The Use of Force" and Other Stories Summary
- Character List
Essays for “The Use of Force” and Other Stories
"The Use of Force" and Other Stories essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of "The Use of Force" and Other Stories by William Carlos Williams.
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Wikipedia Entries for “The Use of Force” and Other Stories
- Introduction
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
"The Use of Force" by William Carlos Williams has been in print for over 80 years. It's a popular selection for anthologies; it's an engaging story and is only about 1,500 words. This article includes a summary and a look at some themes, symbolism and irony.
This paper analyzes William Carlos Williams's story "The Use of Force" to understand the plot and meaning of the narrative to prove that the use of force by the doctor was justifiable.
Introduction Aim: This essay aims to perform an analysis on the basis of integration of SWOT and Porter’s Five Forces frameworks. The key aim of this essay is to establish.
The main themes in "The Use of Force" are necessary evils, power and control, and the limitations of consent. Necessary evils: The doctor rationalizes using force against...
"The Use of Force" and Other Stories study guide contains a biography of William Carlos Williams, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. About "The Use of Force" and Other Stories "The Use of Force" and Other Stories Summary; Character List; Glossary; Themes; Read the Study Guide for “The ...
In terms of technical and narrative structure, “The Use of Force” by William Carlos Williams is a short, image-driven story told from the perspective of a first-person...
"The Use of Force" is a story first published in 1938 as part of a compilation of work by William Carlos Williams. It tells the story of a doctor who is summoned to make a house-call to a family whom he has never met before, and who finds the child he is called to attend to strangely captivating and beautiful.
The protagonist of “The Use of Force” is a trained professional who assesses the situation rationally when he enters the Olsons’ kitchen. Readers can almost hear him starting case notes about the home visit in the story’s opening lines: new patients, mother is “very clean,” child being kept warm.
“Police use of force is defined as the use of physical restraint by a police officer when dealing with a member of the public. Law enforcement officers are authorized to use the amount of force that is reasonable and necessary given the circumstances.
" The Use of Force" is a short story by William Carlos Williams in which a doctor is called to examine Mathilda Olson, who resists his efforts to obtain a throat culture.