The Use of Force by William Carlos Williams

This piece is such a beautifully complex and layered story, centered around one small event in the day of the narrator, a doctor. The part that struck me the most, however, was the characterization of the child. She first seems like a relatively ordinary child, distrustful of doctors and suspicious of this unknown element that might bring pain or discomfort. She's described as quite beautiful, even picturesque, with an abundant head of golden hair, and strong in spire of her several day illness. Throughout the start, she doesn't say a word, instead expressionlessly observing the scene. But this isn't because she doesn't understand what's happening. If anything, she's more aware than her parents, knowing that having diphtheria means medicine and even more doctors and perhaps even death. Even though she might not process that a diagnosis is actually helpful and would increase her chances of survival, she knows that it comes with all sorts of consequences she doesn't want. This understanding can be seen in the way she didn't tell her parents about her sore throat-- while she couldn't deny her obvious outward symptoms, such as her fever, she concealed as much as possible.

Her desperation becomes far more evident once the doctor tries to look at her throat. She is willing to do anything-- claw, bite, rage, even manipulate her parents through screaming bloody murder-- to prevent him from seeing the definitive proof of her illness. But the doctor is just as determined, and with the sight of her tonsils, her secret is up. She did everything she could to keep her illness a secret. but having been defeated, she becomes even more enraged. She's cornered, she's trapped, and she has nothing left to lose. In order to protect herself, she is willing to do anything, even lose her humanity.