The Use of Force by William Carlos Williams is very vivid without being as detailed as it could be.

The parents were quite indecisive in this story and I feel that the family members including the patient are fighting for dominance as the parents don’t show that they posess much control or power. For example the dad couldn’t make up his mind for the daughter as “his shame at her behaviour and his dread of hurting her made him release her just as the critical moment several times “when the author had almost achieved success. The parents are very conscious of their image and want to try impress the doctor. Sometimes it seems that concerns them more than the current state of their daughter. From this story I get the impression that the daughter is spoiled and that the family is around middle class, also deduced from the colloquial way they speak.

Something I find very strange about the author is that when he is getting ready to treat the patient, he mentions that he finds her “attractive”. As the story progresses he says “I had already fallen in love with the savage brat”, which is questionable. But, later on he gives off many a sign of hate and disturbing violent thoughts, not only towards the patient but her parents as well, saying at one point he wanted to kill the father. This is very controversial as it creates a conflict, so I feel that the author is an inconsistent, hypocritical and contradictory person who might have multiple personalities. It’s possible that he treats and thinks of many of his patients in this same way, which could also potentially be the way other doctors around the world think.

The patient in this story was very reluctant and expressed fear. From the conclusion of the story readers can understand that she was trying to hide a sore throat, but the reason is not mentioned. I think that she was in denial, afraid to comprehend what illness she had and how severe it was. She resisted the doctor and tried to prevent the doctor from diagnosing the problem. What surprised me was that she was unusually violent (clawing at the eyes of the author) and the doctor had to react by being even more violent by using force to overpower the patient. I agree that it was the right response but it was unexpected for me.