The Use of Force

After reading this story, I did some research on William Carlos Williams to try to gain more understanding and perspective of “The Use of Force.” What stood out the most to me was that aside from being a poet and writer, Williams was also a pediatrician and general practitioner. That explained to me why he chose to write about a sick child and a doctor. I also discovered that he enjoyed writing more than being a doctor, which may explain why the doctor in “The Use of Force” lacked passion for helping others, unlike most doctors.
Unlike the common belief that most doctors choose their profession because of a desire to help and cure the sick, Williams developed the doctor in the story to be quite unlike that stereotype. The doctor is the narrator of the story, and his general lack of interest for patients and for his profession is apparent in the structure of the writing itself. Williams’ general lack of structure, such as a separation for quotations, and the monotony of the punctuation, lacking exclamations and commands, personify the doctor’s indifference towards his patients. This indifference only ceased for aggression created by the game of prying the child’s mouth open.
Like most writers involved with Imagism, Williams incorporated a lot of imagery in his writing to develop the characters; describing the child as gazing at the doctor with “cold, stead eyes, and no expression to her face whatever,” though she was an “unusually attractive little thing.” It was soon apparent that the child would not go down without a fight, exhibiting stubbornness that would inhibit her ability to be helped and cured by the doctor.
The doctor developed a relationship with the child that would be considered dangerous and inappropriate by other medical professionals. He almost immediately lost his patience and instead directed his pent up frustration and aggression towards that girl, having “already fallen in love with the savage brat.” He eventually saw her as a game instead of a needy child; the girl never bothered to surrender but chose instead to egg him on. Her parents were too worried for the child to be able to provide any sort of assistance for the doctor, and too ignorant to prevent the child’s behavior. The child never gave in until the doctor successfully “overpowered the child’s neck and jaws,” and instead chose to “fly at [him] while tears of defeat blinded her eyes."