In, The Use of Force, written by William Carlos Williams, the theme is most commonly conveyed by how extreme conflict affect the people involved in them. The story is about a doctor versus a young girl. The doctor is the protagonist and the patient or the young girl is the antagonist. The young girl fights the doctor's persistence to examine her with stubbornness and strong will.
The four characters in the story are the doctor, the young girl, and the young girl's parents. The characters know each other in a non-personal way. This is indicated in the first paragraph when the author writes, " They were new patients to me, all I had was the name, Olsen". The use of the family's last name shows how impersonal the relationship between them and the doctor is. In knowing this, the first impressions the doctor has of the patient and her family is very important.
The doctor describes the mother as " a big, startled- looking woman, very clean and apologetic." Then he describes the child, " The child was fairly eating me up with her cold, steady eyes, and no expression to her face whatever." This is the first indication of how strong the young girl is. " She did not move and seemed inwardly, quiet; an unusually attractive thing, and as strong as a heifer in appearance." The doctor thought she was beautiful by saying that she was picture perfect. He had no idea what he was getting into. The author later gives us the name of the child, Mathilda.
The time in which the story took place was one in which doctors still visited patients" home, instead of what we do today. Also, it was a time when diphtheria was an infamous disease that was very deadly. Diphtheria was to that time, how cancer is to the present. This is what the doctor was afraid of for the child.
His first attempt to examine the child was a very calm one. He politely asked her to open her mouth so he could get a throat culture. The young girl would not budge.
