Although "The Use of Force" is a work of fiction, it is based on the actual experiences of William Carlos Williams, who was a doctor, specializing in pediatrics and family medicine, as well as a writer. It was originally published in a collection of short stories ...
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Although "The Use of Force" is a work of fiction, it is based on the actual experiences of William Carlos Williams, who was a doctor, specializing in pediatrics and family medicine, as well as a writer. It was originally published in a collection of short stories Life Along the Passaic River in 1938.
The story is set in Rutherford, New Jersey, where Williams lived and practiced, a then somewhat rural part of New Jersey relatively close to New York City. Its setting was "contemporary," in the sense of being contemporaneous with the period in which it was written (i.e., the late 1930s).
The action of the story takes place in the kitchen of the Olsen family farmhouse. The doctor is making a house call to a poor rural family. The kitchen is the warmest room in the house and serves as a center of family life for rural families.
The setting of the story is the kitchen of the Olson house in the mid- to late-thirties.
Their Olson’s little girl Matilda is sick, so they call a doctor. The girl is in the kitchen because that is the warmest place in the house. This indicates that the story takes place a long time ago, before there was central heat. The doctor’s visit only costs three dollars, but that is a lot to the family. The story was published in 1938, so that fits.
They were new patients to me, all I had was the name, Olson. Please come down as soon as you can, my daughter is very sick.
An important part of the story is the presence of diphtheria, a dangerous respiratory bacterial disease, in the child’s school. Without the diphtheria and the poverty, the story would likely have been very different. It was the danger of the situation that caused the parents to allow the doctor to be so forceful with their child that he actually caused bleeding in her mouth. The fact that the doctor was getting pleasure from hurting the little girl aside, the parents were much more worried that she was sick.
The setting is also important because the fact that the child is hiding the diphtheria is likely due to the barbaric nature of the procedure, from examining her throat to removing the membrane on her tonsils.