The Use of Force by William Carlos Williams

The Use of Force 
(William Carlos Williams)

The main idea in "The Use of Force" by William Carlos Williams is that the use of force itself, no matter how morally good the purpose, corrupts the user. The story starts out portraying the narrator as an admirable person, a hard-working country doctor concerned about his patients. Due to the diphtheria outbreak at the local school, he is very concerned about the young girl, Mathilda Olson. He describes the child as attractive but somewhat hostile to him or suspicious of him, looking at him with "cold, steady eyes."