William Carlos Williams’s “The Use of Force” depicts a brief conflict between a

doctor and a young patient. At the time of the turn of the century, doctors were generally

distrusted and usually summoned to house calls, as was the case in this short story. The

Olsons, who were the parents of the patient named Mathilda, called the doctor over to

check up on her in case she had diphtheria, which was a contagious disease and was

widespread at the time. The doctor attempted to entice Mathilda into opening her mouth

so he could do a throat culture for any signs of the disease, but eventually resorted to

using forceful methods of extraction after her violent acts of refusing to cooperate. After

many efforts, he was successful in obtaining his goal, and it wouldn’t have been so had

he not resorted to the use of force.

Even though the doctor attempted his professional demeanor by using generous

connotations to try to get Mathilda to cooperate, it was to no avail. Not even the mother

who tried using sweet undertones such as “look how kind he is to you…he won’t hurt

you” all proved futile, because this only made Mathilda build up her defense even more

(Williams 1). So when he approached the child, she knocked his glasses off as she

attempted to claw for his eyes (Williams 2). Frustrated with annoyance at both parents

and at Mathilda’s difficulty after he tried being nice, the doctor had no choice but to force

the throat culture out of her.

Many would feel that professionals should know their boundaries and limitations

when dealing with patients. However, certain circumstances, especially life threatening

ones, may force them to look beyond that in order to do what is necessary for the

patient’s life. When he threatened Mathilda to either open her mouth up herself, or have

him do it for her, he thought to himself “I had to do it. I had to have the throat culture for

her own protection” (Williams 2). This was something that must be done, not only for her

sake but for many others as well since a cure was the possible beneficial result. After all,

he had already seen at least two children prior that had died from diphtheria, presumably

without treatment (Williams 2).

Furthermore, the doctor had asked the parents for consent to proceed with his

method, to which they agreed to take responsibility (Williams 2), since they were paying

him $3, which at the time was a lot of money for house summons (Williams 1). The other

side would presumably argue that his using force would do more harm than help her,

which was evident when her mouth started bleeding. However, that was her own doing

when she cut her tongue by unthinkingly reducing the wooden tongue depressor into

“splinters” (Williams 2). If she had cooperated and had not hidden that sore throat from

her parents, he wouldn’t have resorted to this aggressive though necessary procedure.

Another point the opposition would argue were his prevalent feelings of malicious

intent he supposedly held toward Mathilda. This was apparent when he thought “I could

have torn the child apart…and enjoyed it,” seeming without reason. On the other hand, he

did acknowledge that he went out of line when he reflected “But the worst of it was that I

too had got beyond reason” (Williams 2) clearly stating that it wouldn’t have been this

way. Moreover, one couldn’t blame him for his annoyance with her incompetence and

even her parents since they proved to be a hindrance. Early in the story, he had “fallen in

love” with her youthful beauty but that later changed because he grew impatient with her,

especially when her father’s fear of hurting her as he held her down came into play that

deterred earlier possibilities for the doctor to achieve the throat culture (Williams 2).

Based on all the evidence and the claims presented, the doctor’s use of force was

justifiable. If he hadn’t, she would’ve been another statistic, one of the many children

who had died of diphtheria due to neglect and carelessness. His ideas of harming her

intentionally may seem to be unreasonable, even barbaric, but he did contain himself. He

remembered his stance and his objective. Despite personal feelings, he had a job to do

and he made sure to attend to it and he was successful in doing so. The reader can now

assume that a cure, such as a vaccine, would be the ideal outcome of such a “victory,”

and it was all due to his using force.

Argumentative Essay:

“The Use of Force”: Was the Doctor’s Use of Force Justifiable/Not Justifiable?

Sophavandy Iv

English 30, Section 1: Honors Freshman Composition

Dr. William Mistichelli

September 23, 2010

Word Count: 765