"The Use of Force" is a short story written by the
American author William Carlos Williams. It is about a doctor in the 1920's - 30's
that makes home visits. There is an outbreak of diphtheria (a deadly disease) going
around and he is called to examine a little girl who is believed to have such disease.
He faces the fact that his young patient's family has the child quite spoiled,
making him have to improvise an efficient way of communication and examination.
As he tries to examine the child he struggles with her strong will not wanting
to open her mouth, ending in his use of violent force to overpower the child.
Throughout
the story the doctor talks from his own point of view, letting the reader get into
his mind and his reasoning. He justifies his use of violence as protection and
prevention for the child though he guiltily admits his enjoyment of the battle.
The question is: Are his methods, feelings and confessions fair? Or is he just
being a sadistic physician?
From my
point of view, the doctor is being pretty human. As a young Sunday school preschool
teacher assistant I have dealt with small rambunctious children. I have had to wrestle
children in order to prevent them from swallowing duplo legos, bouncy balls and many other small items you would
have never imagined could fit in their mouths. Also I have had to negotiate and
sometimes act firmly in order to feed them. I have experienced having to run
behind them and forcefully grab them in mid air before they smash their heads
against the walls or send flying a plastic kiddy chair at me or another child
(yes it is possible for a chair to fly, those kids are stronger than they seem).
I enjoy the thrill of running and having
eyes all over the place but I certainly do not enjoy using force on the kids.
The fear of hurting them instead of protecting them makes you really think
twice before you do anything.
I would
say the doctor was right in applying force to examine the child, diphtheria is
a deadly disease and a diagnosis was crucial for her survival. I do not agree
with his enjoyment of the violence produced of their struggle.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13555711-the-use-of-force
Fine job
ReplyDeleteYou need your name on your blog.
ReplyDeleteI really like the summary and the reflection. And I like this: "I enjoy the thrill of running and having eyes all over the place but I certainly do not enjoy using force on the kids."
ReplyDeleteI like your point of view.
I would like to hear more about the fear of hurting the kids you feel when you are dealing with them.
When you said about the flying chair I remembered the time I was also a teacher and two children began to fight and one of them took a plastic chair and threw it to the other one.
Also I think that maybe the doctor wasn't enjoying the violence, he was enjoying the fact that that girl was very brave.
Really like your point of view about applying the force to children. The doctor want the best of us but sometimes like you say kids are more stronger than they seem. In this story if the doctor would not use the force they never know the real problem. So I'm agree with you that the doctor was only doing the best.
ReplyDeleteTHIS IS MY FAVORITE POST! JAJAJA
ReplyDeleteDo you think that the doctor acted correctly? I liked how sincere you are when you have to talk of topics like this one. I liked when you said that the little kids can swallow anything (little savages). I would like to hear more about how your experience as an teacher assistant made you think that the doctor was right? As I was reading this post I was laughing because this kind of things happens to me every singe time that I have to deal with the little niece. I like your point of view because sometime we dont see the things that we should and just judge by the first things that we see.