"The Use of Force"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that in "The Use of Force" by William Carlos Williams, the narrator, who is a doctor with human emotions just like everyone else, is called by a poor family with little education to attend to their daughter who might be sick from diphtheria. Although the doctor enters the situation with a professional manner, the situation quickly gets out of control as the doctor finds himself attracted to a young girl and excited by the violence. The author points out that, through the story, the reader is dragged around with the doctor feeling that he is doing what is right; but, in the end, the way he forces the young girl and he enjoys it so much, the reader is left with the lingering thought that maybe he was wrong. The paper concludes that the story is meant to symbolize how society is sometimes coaxed into allowing negative things to take place.

From the Paper:

"As the story progresses a conflict arises between the doctor and the young girl. The doctor needs to access the girl's throat in order to see if it is sore, but the young girl will not allow it. The doctor states "As I moved my chair a little nearer suddenly with one catlike movement both her hands clawed instinctively for my eyes and she almost reached them to." She was determined to keep her mouth shut. It becomes a power struggle between himself and the young patient. In a way you feel that the doctor is the protagonist that deals with the young girl and his inner demons as his antagonists. He conflicts with both of them trough out the whole story building tension."

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