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The Use of Force
The Use of Force" is a short story by the American author William Carlos Williams first published 1938. The story is narrated in first person by a doctor, who is answering a house visit to see a sick girl.
Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1938
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About the author
William Carlos Williams
396 books816 followersWilliam Carlos Williams was an American poet closely associated with modernism and Imagism. He was also a pediatrician and general practitioner of medicine. Williams "worked harder at being a writer than he did at being a physician," wrote biographer Linda Wagner-Martin. During his long lifetime, Williams excelled both as a poet and a physician.
Although his primary occupation was as a doctor, Williams had a full literary career. His work consists of short stories, poems, plays, novels, critical essays, an autobiography, translations, and correspondence. He wrote at night and spent weekends in New York City with friends—writers and artists like the avant-garde painters Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia and the poets Wallace Stevens and Marianne Moore. He became involved in the Imagist movement but soon he began to develop opinions that differed from those of his poetic peers, Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot. Later in his life, Williams toured the United States giving poetry readings and lectures.
In May 1963, he was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems (1962) and the Gold Medal for Poetry of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. The Poetry Society of America continues to honor William Carlos Williams by presenting an annual award in his name for the best book of poetry published by a small, non-profit or university press.
Williams' house in Rutherford is now on the National Register of Historic Places. He was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2009.
Although his primary occupation was as a doctor, Williams had a full literary career. His work consists of short stories, poems, plays, novels, critical essays, an autobiography, translations, and correspondence. He wrote at night and spent weekends in New York City with friends—writers and artists like the avant-garde painters Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia and the poets Wallace Stevens and Marianne Moore. He became involved in the Imagist movement but soon he began to develop opinions that differed from those of his poetic peers, Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot. Later in his life, Williams toured the United States giving poetry readings and lectures.
In May 1963, he was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems (1962) and the Gold Medal for Poetry of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. The Poetry Society of America continues to honor William Carlos Williams by presenting an annual award in his name for the best book of poetry published by a small, non-profit or university press.
Williams' house in Rutherford is now on the National Register of Historic Places. He was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
March 5, 2016
William Carlos Williams and I have history. We spent many a nights in my room driving me crazy. It's not all sexy as it sounds, but he really drove me crazy as I had to write 4 paragraph essays about his 16-word poems. My bitching aside, I love William Carlos Williams' poetry, this short story not so.
First of all, the title The Use of Force
So sensational, but really the story is nothing of the sort.
I read this because it's in almost, if not all, all the lists of best short stories, but this just didn't do it for me. When I read short stories, I expect some sort of story arc, this had none. It's still a 3 because it's William Carlos Williams and the man is a painter of words, and no one does imagery as good as he does.
First of all, the title The Use of Force
So sensational, but really the story is nothing of the sort.
I read this because it's in almost, if not all, all the lists of best short stories, but this just didn't do it for me. When I read short stories, I expect some sort of story arc, this had none. It's still a 3 because it's William Carlos Williams and the man is a painter of words, and no one does imagery as good as he does.
September 4, 2014
Upon first reading this, the doctor seems like he's trying to diagnose a stubborn child with Diphtheria. The second time reading this it seems comparable to a rape. Seriously.
September 27, 2021
Very sparse prose, almost clinical in its directness.
A power struggle between doctor and patient, a young girl. Diphtheria was in her school and she’s had a fever. The doctor fell in love with the “savage brat” but found her parents “contemptible” — perhaps because their love for their daughter made them hesitant and soft, unwilling to crush their child’s panic.
An unusually short piece of prose, for the times (1933) and one that still has the power to disturb, to provoke, and to trouble.
Poet William Carlos Williams was a doctor.
A power struggle between doctor and patient, a young girl. Diphtheria was in her school and she’s had a fever. The doctor fell in love with the “savage brat” but found her parents “contemptible” — perhaps because their love for their daughter made them hesitant and soft, unwilling to crush their child’s panic.
An unusually short piece of prose, for the times (1933) and one that still has the power to disturb, to provoke, and to trouble.
Poet William Carlos Williams was a doctor.
October 26, 2016
The more I read it and the more we discussed about it in the class, the more it sounded like a scene of rape! The little girl is not the person who is sick, it's the doctor!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 8, 2015
هل يمكن تبرير استخدام القوة لتحقيق غاية ما؟
ماذا إن كانت القوة هي الوسيلة الوحيدة ربما لإنقاذ حياة شخص؟ هل يُعتبر هذا مبرراً لاستخدامها؟
على الرغم من بساطة هذه الأسئلة ... إلا أنها مهمة جداً... وعميقة فلسفياً. وهذه بالضبط هي الأسئلة التي ناقشتها هذه القصة الرائعة للكاتب الرائع ويليام كارلوس ويليامز.
ولكن القصة ليست مجرد تعاطي مع الأسئلة،
بل تتعدى ذلك إلى توضيح الانعاكاسات البشرية والتفاعلات النفسية العميقة معها - بشكل طريف نوعاً ما.
القصة تتلخص في طبيب يأتي ليفحص طفلة صغيرة يشك أهلها في أنها تعاني من مرض مميت (في ذلك الوقت - كالتهاب اللوزتين مثلاً!!) ولكن الطفلة ترفض أن تفتح فمها للفحص .. بل وتضرب الطبيب أيضاً!! في النهاية يتمكن الطبيب بالعنف أن يفتح فمها رغماً عنها بملعقة حديدية وسط صراخ الطفلة وتألمها!
ولكن المسألة ليست في أنه تمكن من معرفة مرضها وعلاجها .. بل هي في أن الطبيب كما وصف نفسه (لأنه هو راوي القصة ..) قد استمتع في إرغامها!! ووصف تمكنه من فتح فمها بأنه "انتصار" وقال عن الفتاة بعد إرغامها بأن "دموع الهزيمة تملأ عينيها"!!!
نعم .. انتقلت الصورة من عنف مبرر ربما .. إلى عنف اغتصابي مقزز! وربما لذلك يحس القارىء في مرحلة ما أثناء قراءته للقصة بأنها تتحدث عن حالة اغتصاب .. لا علاج!
ويعود السؤال ذاته يطرح نفسه بعد الانتهاء من القصة: هل يمكن تبرير العنف؟! وهل يوجد في العرف البشري عنف مبرر؟!
قصة رائعة .. جداً جداً. وعميقة جداً جداً.
أنصح بها :)
September 2, 2014
I read this once; waited a moment, and then read it again. At first I thought nothing at all, but then it started to sink in and I thought too many thoughts.
March 26, 2014
I read The Use of Force by William Carlos Williams. This is a short story about a doctor who goes to the Olson family’s house to inspect their daughter. The little girl was with her parents as the doctor examined her. Her parents were very nervous about what might be wrong with her and asked several unnecessary questions. She has already had a fever for the last three days, but looks fairly healthy. The doctor knew that Diphtheria was going around in her school, so he needed to check her throat for symptoms. The little girl refused to let this happen and fought back with everything that she had. She even bit down on the wooden tongue depressor, causing it to splinter in her mouth. With the help of her parents the doctor was able to determine that she has a mucous membrane on her tonsils.
The doctor is obviously knowledgeable about his field and has done this kind of thing before. In the story he notices that the parents tell him things that he doesn’t need to know, as they usually do. This lets me know that he has had experience with other patients. It is a good thing that this doctor was persistent, and didn’t wait to check on her again. She had been hiding this from her parents for three days, but the doctor was able to find out the cause of the problem immediately.
This book probably takes in the early nineteen hundreds. I’m assuming this because of the time that the author was alive, and the context of the story. The doctor in the story showed up at the family’s house instead of setting up an appointment like we do today. The appointment only cost three dollars, which is probably a fair price considering the time period.
The meaning behind this story is to show that the use of force and perseverance is very necessary in some situations. The doctor did not give up when trying to look in her throat, because she might die from Diphtheria if she had it. There was a time when the doctor was frustrated at the parents because they didn’t try their hardest to get her mouth open. This was probably because they were scared for their daughter and wanted to be more gentle with her.
I would recommend this book to anyone, because it shows how hard someone must try to make the most out of a situation. It gets right to the point and is an easy read.
The doctor is obviously knowledgeable about his field and has done this kind of thing before. In the story he notices that the parents tell him things that he doesn’t need to know, as they usually do. This lets me know that he has had experience with other patients. It is a good thing that this doctor was persistent, and didn’t wait to check on her again. She had been hiding this from her parents for three days, but the doctor was able to find out the cause of the problem immediately.
This book probably takes in the early nineteen hundreds. I’m assuming this because of the time that the author was alive, and the context of the story. The doctor in the story showed up at the family’s house instead of setting up an appointment like we do today. The appointment only cost three dollars, which is probably a fair price considering the time period.
The meaning behind this story is to show that the use of force and perseverance is very necessary in some situations. The doctor did not give up when trying to look in her throat, because she might die from Diphtheria if she had it. There was a time when the doctor was frustrated at the parents because they didn’t try their hardest to get her mouth open. This was probably because they were scared for their daughter and wanted to be more gentle with her.
I would recommend this book to anyone, because it shows how hard someone must try to make the most out of a situation. It gets right to the point and is an easy read.
March 22, 2014
William Carlos Williams. American poet, essayist and short story writer. A physician too who had delivered more than three thousand babies in a working-class neighborhood of Rutherford, New Jersey where he was born.
This is a story of a sick, young, pretty girl who has a fever, sick for several days already, with her worried parents. The doctor (most probably Williams) wants to check her throat. But she won't open her mouth...
This is a story of a sick, young, pretty girl who has a fever, sick for several days already, with her worried parents. The doctor (most probably Williams) wants to check her throat. But she won't open her mouth...
February 1, 2025
I enjoyed it. The doctor's frustration was really palpable and the desperation from Mathilda's parents was on full display. It didn't wow me but it was still an enjoyable read.
June 8, 2020
The use of Force is a short story about a doctor who visits a girl and wants to see whether the girl is suffering from Diphtheria or not. The story was fast-paced and a bit humorous. Though I don't know why the girl was being over-sentimental and wild.
Overall, it was a good read
Overall, it was a good read
April 21, 2020
Many reviewers seem to have missed the point on this short story. Some insist that no, of course there aren't any rape overtones to this story, the narrator is just trying to do his job--which is absurd. Everything from the title to the doctor's admitting that it's a "pleasure" to attack the damned brat--whom he was in love with, he says--is meant to make us think that we are watching the violation of a child.
But those reviewers who have grasped this point too often dismiss the story as showing that the doctor is a sicko. He is not. He starts off trying to do his job, and only becomes worked up as the visit progresses. More importantly, we are MEANT to feel this incongruity between the-doctor-as-helper and the-doctor-as-assaulter. Diphtheria was often fatal when Williams practiced, and if this child had gone long enough to have developed a membrane there was quite a substantial chance she would die without treatment. We are, however, forced ourselves to admire the spirit and spunk of this child, and perhaps to be uneasy about the rigid paternalism that sets up such a violent encounter between doctor and patient.
I don't think anyone reading this story should come away from it with a sense of deep satisfaction, but this brilliant tale persists long in the memory; twenty years after I read it I can still remember it in considerable detail. This is a classic for a reason--haunting, powerful, and troubling, told simply but evocatively.
But those reviewers who have grasped this point too often dismiss the story as showing that the doctor is a sicko. He is not. He starts off trying to do his job, and only becomes worked up as the visit progresses. More importantly, we are MEANT to feel this incongruity between the-doctor-as-helper and the-doctor-as-assaulter. Diphtheria was often fatal when Williams practiced, and if this child had gone long enough to have developed a membrane there was quite a substantial chance she would die without treatment. We are, however, forced ourselves to admire the spirit and spunk of this child, and perhaps to be uneasy about the rigid paternalism that sets up such a violent encounter between doctor and patient.
I don't think anyone reading this story should come away from it with a sense of deep satisfaction, but this brilliant tale persists long in the memory; twenty years after I read it I can still remember it in considerable detail. This is a classic for a reason--haunting, powerful, and troubling, told simply but evocatively.
March 2, 2022
read for English class, kinda disturbing but good overall
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August 19, 2022literally so uncomfortable to read so ig proved it’s point?
March 30, 2020
It's strange how an entire story unfolds in the total of five minutes. The pacing between the emotional heightening of the characters seemed a bit off, in that it progressed fairly naturally linearly until a certain point, and then escalated into chaos. This surprisingly violent little girl does not want to be examined by the doctor, for fear of discovering an illness that could kill her. The conflict of rationality between the doctor's desire to help and the patient's desire to remain sick lends the story an almost absurdist sort of air, as if children cannot be reasoned with.
September 3, 2023
There's no way to review this short story without total spoilers. I will say, however, that I found The Use of Force to be both humorous and sad after helping raise four children and remembering doctor appointments as a child in the 40s and 50s. I found the story to be strangely compelling, and I'm going to investigate more works of William Carlos Williams.
September 28, 2024
uncle bad ❌
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February 15, 2022It is interesting to me, coming from the perspective of a chronically ill woman who has spent hours, both in adolescence and adulthood with doctors who were supposed to help me but often didn’t, to begin seeing medicine from the doctors perspective.
We could travel all the way back to pre anaesthesia (the first surgical use of which (in the west anyway) was a mere 175 years ago), when doctors had to cut into their patients flesh, hack of a limb even, primed only with alcohol and possibly laudanum.
Whilst it is easy to sympathise with the patient, and almost automatic for most of us to do so, when I begin to think about the doctors, performing surgeries to try and prolong a life or end someone’s pain, knowing your patient may die anyway, knowing the pain they’re in, seeing the pain their in, hearing the pain they’re in, suddenly I can’t decide which party had it worse.
In a bid to, I guess, save myself from the thought of a medical misfortune, I often forget that doctors are human too. I’ll take jabs at their collective ego and forget that the only thing holding them back from treating me as un-human, as an object void of pain and possible violation, is their promise to be hippocratic. One cannot forget that the doctor in this story is human, because he is more human than we’d wish him to be. Do doctors have to stave off their humanity to continue being hippocratic? And is their lack of humanity, and their god like status, the cause of most medical mishaps?
This story encompasses every aspect of humanities relationship to medicine, and we are all everyone in it.
We could travel all the way back to pre anaesthesia (the first surgical use of which (in the west anyway) was a mere 175 years ago), when doctors had to cut into their patients flesh, hack of a limb even, primed only with alcohol and possibly laudanum.
Whilst it is easy to sympathise with the patient, and almost automatic for most of us to do so, when I begin to think about the doctors, performing surgeries to try and prolong a life or end someone’s pain, knowing your patient may die anyway, knowing the pain they’re in, seeing the pain their in, hearing the pain they’re in, suddenly I can’t decide which party had it worse.
In a bid to, I guess, save myself from the thought of a medical misfortune, I often forget that doctors are human too. I’ll take jabs at their collective ego and forget that the only thing holding them back from treating me as un-human, as an object void of pain and possible violation, is their promise to be hippocratic. One cannot forget that the doctor in this story is human, because he is more human than we’d wish him to be. Do doctors have to stave off their humanity to continue being hippocratic? And is their lack of humanity, and their god like status, the cause of most medical mishaps?
This story encompasses every aspect of humanities relationship to medicine, and we are all everyone in it.
October 28, 2013
The doctor went to the Olsen’s house to check on their daughter because she was sick. The doctor tries to look in the daughter’s throat but she tries to fight him by keeping her mouth shut. After a couple of tries the doctor succeeds to get a silver spoon into the daughter’s mouth so he can look in her throat. The doctor made the dad hold her down so she wouldn’t hurt him.
The doctor is a round, stock character. The mom does not change much so she is a static character. The dad changes in the story, he goes from being afraid of hurting his daughter to helping the doctor so he is a dynamic character. The daughter is a dynamic character also, she goes from quiet to screaming.
The setting was at the Olsen’s house. Everything is happening at the Parents’ house which means that the doctor had to go to the house. The time period that the short story takes place in would have to be in the 1900’s.
The age of the audience should be thirteen and up and male and female can read it. I would not recommend it because it was too short to even find out any names of the characters. I thought that it was not very good.
The doctor is a round, stock character. The mom does not change much so she is a static character. The dad changes in the story, he goes from being afraid of hurting his daughter to helping the doctor so he is a dynamic character. The daughter is a dynamic character also, she goes from quiet to screaming.
The setting was at the Olsen’s house. Everything is happening at the Parents’ house which means that the doctor had to go to the house. The time period that the short story takes place in would have to be in the 1900’s.
The age of the audience should be thirteen and up and male and female can read it. I would not recommend it because it was too short to even find out any names of the characters. I thought that it was not very good.
September 1, 2014
Not as disturbing as I expected, but it is still very well written. The style is surprinsingly fresh for its epoque.
October 28, 2015
Dude.
March 24, 2016
No. Just no. It's such a weird story that had a pointless end
October 24, 2022
What did I just read
March 20, 2018
Personal Response:
I liked this short story because even though it was so short, it told a greats story. The author did a great job of painting a picture in my head, I could really picture in my head the old house and the doctor and young girl.
Plot Summary:
This book is about a doctor who goes on a house visit to check a young girl who has been sick for a few days. When he gets there it is an old farmhouse. He meets the parents first, who are scared of what they think she has. When he meets the girl he asks her a few questions but she does not reply to any of them. The doctor asks about her throat and she says its fine. He tries to look at it but she wont open her mouth. He has to have her dad hold her down while he prys open her mouth with a spoon.
Characterization:
The doctor is a male and wants to just get the job done. He does not like to talk about anything unless if it is going to help him get finished.
The girl is young and smart. She understands if the doctor finds out she has a problem with her throat that she will be diagnosed with a life threatening sickness.
The dad at the beginning of the book is scared for his daughter and wants to make sure she is ok. He then switches and helps the doctor by holding down his daughter despite her screaming.
Setting:
The setting of this book is in an old farm house in early 1900's. This is important because if it was in a wealthier house then the sickness would not have been such a big deal cause they could pay for treatment. If it was in the future then the cure for the sickness for be easier to get.
Recommendation:
I recommend this book to boys and girls who are in highschool or have graduated high school. I recommend it to them because this is where the reading level is at and these people will bst understand the story.
I liked this short story because even though it was so short, it told a greats story. The author did a great job of painting a picture in my head, I could really picture in my head the old house and the doctor and young girl.
Plot Summary:
This book is about a doctor who goes on a house visit to check a young girl who has been sick for a few days. When he gets there it is an old farmhouse. He meets the parents first, who are scared of what they think she has. When he meets the girl he asks her a few questions but she does not reply to any of them. The doctor asks about her throat and she says its fine. He tries to look at it but she wont open her mouth. He has to have her dad hold her down while he prys open her mouth with a spoon.
Characterization:
The doctor is a male and wants to just get the job done. He does not like to talk about anything unless if it is going to help him get finished.
The girl is young and smart. She understands if the doctor finds out she has a problem with her throat that she will be diagnosed with a life threatening sickness.
The dad at the beginning of the book is scared for his daughter and wants to make sure she is ok. He then switches and helps the doctor by holding down his daughter despite her screaming.
Setting:
The setting of this book is in an old farm house in early 1900's. This is important because if it was in a wealthier house then the sickness would not have been such a big deal cause they could pay for treatment. If it was in the future then the cure for the sickness for be easier to get.
Recommendation:
I recommend this book to boys and girls who are in highschool or have graduated high school. I recommend it to them because this is where the reading level is at and these people will bst understand the story.
November 4, 2021
The first time I read this was via college pamphlet of whereabouts I don't recall. Only that it truly captured me in its intense style of writing. Which I'd estimated to be centered around 1830-1860s era. A short story, I found to be brilliantly written, about a country doctor who makes a special house call to the home of what I would probably label 'Reagan'; the possessed little girl in The Exorcist. Considering the girl's unnaturally violent behavior toward the doctor for wanting to be sure she did not have a deadly disease. I'm sure a few slight revisions have happened over time. But I do retain my original copy from 1990.
July 28, 2019
My fav quotes:
If only they wouldn't use the word "hurt" I might be able to get somewhere.
I must get a diagnosis now or never I went at it again. But the worst of it was that I too had got beyond reason. I could have torn the child apart in my own fury and enjoyed it. It was a pleasure to attack her. My face was burning with it.The damned little brat must be protected against her own idiocy, one says to one's self at such times.
She had been on the defensive before but now she attacked. Tried to get off her father's lap and fly at me while tears of defeat blinded her eyes.
If only they wouldn't use the word "hurt" I might be able to get somewhere.
I must get a diagnosis now or never I went at it again. But the worst of it was that I too had got beyond reason. I could have torn the child apart in my own fury and enjoyed it. It was a pleasure to attack her. My face was burning with it.The damned little brat must be protected against her own idiocy, one says to one's self at such times.
She had been on the defensive before but now she attacked. Tried to get off her father's lap and fly at me while tears of defeat blinded her eyes.
May 12, 2019
Williams writes this narrative from the point of view of a medical doctor that needs to get a culture from the throat of a stubborn young woman. Violence exists in the insistence of the doctor and the patient’s parents as well as in the stubborn resolve of the young woman. Right and wrong are irrelevant.
August 14, 2020
Ok ok read.
A doctor went to see a girl at her home on request by her parents in return for a $3 payment. The girl tried many things to compel the doctor to get out of his house but all in vain.
How the doctor overpowered the girl & her parent's fears & succeeded in his work, is all this short story is about.
A doctor went to see a girl at her home on request by her parents in return for a $3 payment. The girl tried many things to compel the doctor to get out of his house but all in vain.
How the doctor overpowered the girl & her parent's fears & succeeded in his work, is all this short story is about.
September 17, 2020
after finishing The Use of Force I reflected back on the story and the relationship between men and women back then was very disturbing, in the story the mother has very little input on how her daughter is being treated and there is 2 grown men forcefully holding the little girl down and shoving a spoon down her throat.
September 18, 2020
This book/short story was not interesting to me at all. The lens that I use to rate this book is Class. The family in the story was clean and wealthy, they had enough money to pay for the doctor, and could afford to dress nice.
September 21, 2021
Highly emotive language, the simplicity is excellent, almost in a Hemingway-style yet with enough adjectives and adverbs to give rich descriptions that paint vivid pictures of the horrific scene in your mind.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews