The use of force

The use of force
大意: Mathilda had been ill for three days. Her mother had given her some medicine, but it didn’t do any good. So they had to ask the doctor to come. There had been a number of cases of diphtheria in Mathilda School and two of them had been dead. When the doctor arrived at Olson’s home, he wanted to examine Mathilda throat first. But no matter how he coaxed, She wouldn’t open her mouth. So the doctor had to get the tongue depressor into her mouth. But Mathilda reduced it to splinters. In orde r to protect Mathilda herself and other children, the doctor had to make sure whether she had diphtheria or not, so that he could treat her in time. Letting Mathilda‘s father hold her wrists he tried his best to open her mouth and found she really had diphtheria. This story made us can think such a question that something in life can’t only depend on self-willingness. Under some circumstances, certain force seems necessary.
对医生的评价:After the doctor arrived at the girl’s home, he wanted to see her throat. As there had been a number of cases of diphtheria in the school to which the girl went during that month, the doctor also thought that of the girl. So he smiled to the girl and asked her to open her mouth and let him have a look at her throat. No matter how the doctor coaxed, the girl shut her mouth firmly.
Thinking that the girl might have diphtheria and possibly die of it, the doctor decided to use force to open her mouth. He had seen at least two children lying dead in bed of neglect in such cases. He felt that he must get a diagnosis now. So he grasped the girl’s head with his left hand and tried to get the wooden tongue depressor between her teeth. But when the doctor got the wooden spatula behind her last teeth. She gripped the blade between her molars and reduced it to splinters. In the final unreasoning assault the doctor outer powered the girl. He forced the heavy silver spoon back of her teeth and down her throat till she gagged. Her both tonsils were covered with membrane.
From that the doctor had done, I thought he was a responsible person. In order to save the lives of the patients, especially those children who did not know how to co-operate with the doctor, he had to take some measure. Otherwise a good or suitable time of treatment would be missed. The doctor appears to be compassionate and keen to human behavior, characteristic of a good doctor, though he is also undeniably blunt and slightly prejudiced.
思想: Though there are reasons often justifiable, what compels the use of force against others isn't simply altruism alone. The overall theme of the story revolves around power and submission and the doctor's unnerved feeling following the forceful encounter.
作者如何写的: The story is narrated in first person by a doctor, who is answering a house visit to see a sick girl. Williams uses interior monologue as a
"stream-of-consciousness" tool reflects the narrator's experience of dialogue and gives insight into the character and his appraisal of the situations he encounters. The story is written without the use of quotation marks, and the dialogue is not distinguished from the narrator's comments. The story is rendered from the subjective point of view of the doctor, and explores his subdued enjoyment of forcefully subduing the stubborn child in an attempt to acquire the throat sample.。