The Use of Force

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Recommended: Effects of Great Depression of the United States

One of the most productive and prosperous nations of the world is the United States of America. From an economical stand point, there has been an incredible amount of success for this country and an expected many more to come. However, there have also been economical stresses such as wars, recessions, and depressions. The Great Depression was perhaps the most tragic of these. William Carlos Williams connects his experience of the Great Depression through his short story “The Use of Force”.

William Carlos Williams during his lifetime (1883-1963) prospered not only in the medical field as a doctor for over 40 years, but also became a well known author and poet. He is known for his unique way of writing and for his strong imagist, anti-romanticist way of thinking. His writing style was “uncluttered” and had “functional phrasing”. Although he was of foreign decent, he took great pride in being of American nationality. He was a zealot for the U.S.A and felt that as an American, he was very privileged and fortunate. However, he was raised in the time of The Great Depression and saw firsthand the affliction a tumbling economy in a great nation can form.

The Great Depression has been the most terrible depression America has had to overcome so far. From 1929 to 1939 the employment rate and GDP dropped drastically. It was harder to provide for families and many people had to live in makeshift homes and ration out what little food they had. Such a tragic time influenced authors to write about the adversities the era caused and the feelings of those who went through it. William Carlos Williams was one of these authors. He had experienced it so he could easily incorporate it into His plot for one of his well known short stories “The Use o...

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...an the father and we don’t know what it comes from. My wife has given her things, you know, like people do, but it don’t do no good. And there’s been a lot of sickness around. So we tho’t you’d better look her over and tell us what is the matter”

It is important to understand the impact of the Great Depression on Literature and the significance of William Carlos William’s ability to intertwine his experiences and history into his short story “The Use of Force” in a way that is intriguing to the reader and unique to the imagist approach to life in which he so strongly believed.

References

WAGNER-MARTIN. (n.d.). Retrieved from HTTP://WWW.CLASSICSHORTS.COM/STORIES/FORCE.HTML

Williams, W. (1938). The use of force. (Doctoral dissertation)

Williams, Williams Carlos. The Autobiography of William Carlos William. New York : New Directions Books,

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