The Use of Force
The doctor in this story could easily be viewed in may different ways. I'm torn on which one is the most probable universally acknowledged view, but most likely him overcoming the child's fighting makes him a hero. Granted, anyone could say he was a hero because in the end he was able to diagnosed the child with diphtheria, but the almost sadistic satisfaction he had while attempting to open the child's mouth definitely give us something to discuss. "But the worst of it was that I too had got beyond reason. I could have torn the child apart in my own fury and enjoyed it. It was a pleasure to attack her. My face was burning with it." Now, was this a natural reaction due to his doctoral vows coupled with the child's anger and ferocity or was there something disturbing about it. The only real way that we could determine this is if the story had gone on for at least another paragraph. I say this because it ends with "Now truly she was furious. She had been on the defensive before but now she attacked. Tried to get off her father's lap and fly at me while tears of defeat blinded her eyes." Now that he had seen her tonsils and got what he wanted, if he still kept that sadistic fury in response to her attack, I think that would imply there something more twisted in his head.
One last thing that I noticed in the story, maybe I'm way off on this. Very early in the third paragraph, when introducing the child, the author states "The child was fully dressed and sitting on her father's lap near the kitchen table". Doesn't it seem like unless you mention it, it's assumed everyone is wearing close? I dunno, I was just contemplating a few options: a. It's a random line that im reading into b. The author put it there as to inforce the concept that she was in no way exposed so that the doctor's lust had no sexual conotation c. and finally the possibility that it's from the doctor's point of view and thats somethign that immediately goes through the doctors head when seeing a child (sicko status). Dunno, highly possible I'm trying to make something out of nothing here, but how drunk with power he gets when overpowering the child seems a bit... pervy?
posted by MatthewKaplan @ 10:16 AM
3 Comments:
I see where you see the perversion in this story. When he first describes the girl he talks about her beauty and in the end he even says he has " fallen in love with the savage brat" There was obviously something wrong with this guy, feeling satisfaction in painfully forcing a little girl to do something against her will is obviously not normal.
You're right about the ambiguous and deeply psycho-sexual suggestions about some of the details-- but what's perhaps most "disturbing" in the story is not that the doctor should notice such things, but our concepts of science, doctors, etc, that they shouldn't; also, don't forget, doctors are trained observers--so they would take account of such things (the girl being fully dressed while apparently sick may suggest something about the girl's resistance, or perhaps more to the point about the parents' notions of how patients should appear before a medical professional, etc.) Yes, you're right (in your comment on a previous blog), the the girl is an antagnonist in the story-- this is really the doctor's/narrator's story (doctor = protagonist). But perhaps she's not the only, or even the most significant one. The story's main conflict, in terms of the medical profession and its representative here (the narrator/doctor), is not focused on the doctor/patient, but the doctor himself and his cultural positioning: i.e., in the relationship of the individual to the profession that lays claim to him... From this perspective, you could see either the profession itself as the antagonist, or the doctor's own human psychology, depending on which you see winning in the end, though it is often the case that such conflicts remain unresolved and remain in a certain degree of suspense/tension... If ultimately he is able to maintain control, over himself and the patient and the goal of the examination process, that would be a point to the "profession," and the authority of science, though we do get a peak at what always lies just below the surface, and perhaps this is the main point...
Oh you know what... i didn't notice the clothing thing. although i would like to give the doc a few points for not actually being a total pervert by assuming that these people were poor and all things point to them being so. Even the way they spoke ("My wife has given her things, you know, like people do, but it don't do no good.... So we tho't you'd better look her over...") pointed to them not exactly being very well off though they were able to get a house call from a doctor. anyhoo my point was that them not having a lot of money could explain why williams may have pointed out the child's clothing because i mean childrens' clothing in a poor household is not of the highest priority as they outgrow things and mess things up while they do there kid things so maybe some families didn't always clothe their young children fully. but i guess her being a girl child and a man was coming to look at her it would be proper she be dressed... what was my point again?
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