Thursday, October 4, 2007
The Use of Force
This short story is about a doctor who makes a house call. The doctor is greeted by two friendly parents of a possibly very sick child. The story goes into extensive detail about the process of testing the child for the possible infectious disease, known as diphtheria. The story did have a psychotic feeling to it like some kind of bad 30's horror flick. The doctor seemed like an honest, caring doctor but for him to say, "I could have torn the child apart in my own fury and enjoyed it" was kind of disturbing. The title "The Use of Force" is regarding the force the doctor uses to examine the childs condition. But, it might also be relating to the dominant nature of man. One side of this man wants to cure her, and the other side of him wants to tear her apart. The story might be talking about the instabilities of human nature.
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2 comments:
Yes--you're onto something there, thinking about this double meaning of force. Could be a very interesting topic to pursue in your journal.
And an apparent self-contradiction? or maybe it's just the dualistic, or exclusionist/absolutist nature of Western thought that makes it seem so...? how does the story take on some of this--a really, deep qestioning of the nature of culture v. the nature of...nature?
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