William Carlos Williams The Use Of Force

William Carlos Williams wrote a short story called “The Use of Force”. In this story a doctor tries to determine what’s wrong with a child named Mathilda, that ultimately refuses to be examined and refuses to communicate with both the doctor and her parents. The doctor goes from a professional to as then uses force complete Mathilda’s examination. Going from professional to sadist in a short while after Mathilda refused to be examined. Thus, the title “The Use of Force” plays an important role in this story. The significance of the title is weather the use of force is acceptable. I would normally say there is no way to justify the use of force but a young childs life was at risk and she was not willing to cooperate. Therefore, i feel like the use of force by the doctor but it is questioned because of his enjoyment of his use of force.
The use of force is a legal concept, a principle that allows authorities to exercise physical force against another person if such force is deemed justifiable to protect the individual or to protect society from the individual. The doctors use of force may seem cruel and almost brutal, but the doctor felt like it was the necessary way to examine Mathilda’s throat to determine if she had diphtheria.The doctor states “it was up to me to tell them; thats why they were spending three dollars on me” referring to
finding out what was wrong with the child. Several cases of diphtheria have been reported at Mathilda’s school and two children have died; the doctor does not want Mathilda to be the next child to die from the potentially fatal disease.
The doctors first resort was not force. First the doctor used kindness to try and persuade Mathilda to let him do the throat examination. For example the doctor states "just open your mouth wide and let me take a look. Look, I haven't anything in my hands." Thinking she would let him do the examination, he moved closer to her and suddenly she almost attacked him knocking off his glasses. Then the doctor uses firmness to try and do the examination. He asked Mathilda parents to hold her down as he tried to force the wooden tongue depressor between her teeth. When he finally did, she opened up and beat down instantly breaking the wooden tongue depressor into splinter. He then asked for a smooth handled spoon to use as a tongue depressor. Even though the child's mouth was bleeding from a cut and she was screaming hysterically the doctor continued on and still wouldn't work.
One would think that the doctor would eventually give up and try again another time, but he was determined to give the parents a diagnosis.
The doctor has already seen two children lying in bed dead because of not being diagnosed and he felt like it was now or never to get the diagnosis. One would also think why would the parents not step in and stop him from inflicting more pain on the child. Mathilda's parents did not want to harm their child, but felt like it was necessary to protect their daughter from death. The doctor himself could not justify his motivation for forcing the examination other than the other children's
deaths.
The doctor went from professional to sadistic trying to complete the examination. The doctor began to enjoy attacking the child. The doctor states “ I could have torn the child apart in my own fury and enjoyed it.” The doctor felt like he needed to protect Mathilda from her own idiocy. It was a social necessity that he made sure Mathilda did not have Diphtheria. The doctor had to overpower Mathilda's neck and jaws and force the spoon behind her teeth a and down her throat and that's when he seen both of her tonsils covered in a membrane. Mathilda had diphtheria and been hiding her sore throat from her parents for three days.
Earlier I gave the legal concept of the use of force and the doctor indeed felt that he had to protect others from Mathilda. If the doctor did not diagnose Mathilda and she carried on like nothing was wrong she could die and other children and people could get infected and potentially die. Its like going to the doctors to get a shot even if the child does not like shots its a requirement and the doctors would have to use force to make sure the child get all required shots to protect other children from getting the disease the shots protect the child from. Therefore, I feel like the use of force by the doctor is justified.