The Use of Force

943 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effects of the Great Depression on 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...

... middle of paper ...

...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,

Show More
Related

  • Bud Not Buddy Figurative Language

    555 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Great Depression is one of the worst time for America. Books, cartoons, and articles have been written about the people during the Depression and how they survived in that miserable period. For example, the book Bud not Buddy takes place in the time of the Great Depression. Bud is a ten year old orphan, who was on the run trying to find his dad. There are many feelings throughout the book like sadness and scarceness. There are many diverse tones in the book about what people were feeling at the time.

    Read More

  • Book Review - The Great Depression

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Depression America 1929-1941 by Robert S. McElvaine covers many topics of American history during the "Great Depression" through 1941. The topic that I have selected to compare to the text of American, Past and Present, written by Robert A. Divine, T.H. Breen, George M. Frederickson and R. Hal Williams, is Herbert Hoover, the thirty-first president of the United States and America's president during the horrible "Great Depression".

    Read More

  • Great Depression On American People Essay

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    The years berween 1929 and 1933 were trying years for people throughout the world. Inflation was often so high money became nearly worthless. America had lost the prosperity it had known during the 1920's. America was caught in a trap of a complete meltdown of economy, workers had no jobs simply because it cost too much to ship the abundance of goods being produced. This cycle was unbreakable, and produced what is nearly universally recognized as the greatest economic collapse of all times. These would be trying years for all, but not every American faced the same challenges and hardships. (Sliding 3)

    Read More

  • The Beast In the Cave

    2003 Words  | 5 Pages

    "The Use of Force--William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)." Classic Short Stories. B&L Associates, Bangor, Maine, U.S.A., 1995-2007. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. .

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of The Film Seabiscuit, And The Great Depression

    813 Words  | 2 Pages

    America was not always in the right stand economically. While some assemble the change of how America did business in the 1900s, America’s economy stumbled down during the early 1930s. This downside to America was known as the Great Depression, one of the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the U.S. history. Films such as “Seabiscuit” captures an immense view on how the American people looked for a stress relief action, moreover methods to take their minds off the harsh times these individuals were facing.

    Read More

  • Essay On Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is the Great Depression, you ask? Well, the Great Depression is basically an economic-meltdown caused by uneven distribution of income. In the late 1920s, not enough people could afford to purchase goods because of the way money was being distributed. The economy was greatly upset by this and as a result, farmers in the rural, Southern parts of America, such as Alabama, were in distress because less people were buying their products. This issue was also raised in Lee’s novel through characters like the Cunninghams- a family of local farmers who were hit hard by the Great Depression and became so poor the only way they can repay their debts is through home-grown crops.

    Read More

  • The Great Depression

    1724 Words  | 4 Pages

    The causes and far-reaching effects of The Great Depression are examined. Discussion includes its impact on both American cultures and nations around the world. The role of World War II and the New Deal in overcoming the Depression are explored.

    Read More

  • Use Of Force Essay

    1524 Words  | 4 Pages

    “The police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence,” Robert Peel. The use of force for police officers is something I find to be justified and right, because it can possible help save the officers life and any witnesses lives.

    Read More

  • The New Deal

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    After the end of the World War I in 1920, the United States entered in a period where great changes were made. During this period known as the New Era of the 1920’s, many innovations were taking place as well as many economic developments, which were stimulating the way through a change in America’s society. However, while for some Americans this was an era of better opportunities for living, some others were suffering the consequences. Later on, with an unequal distribution of wealth and low incomes, America’s economy was in a vulnerable point of a catastrophic collapse. And so it was. By the end of the 1920’s, when the stock market crashed, the prosperity of that period disappeared and the nation was sunk into an economic catastrophe known as the Great Depression. Many factors constituted the reasons for this collapse, for example, the Wall Street crash, the oligopolies domination over American industries, the weaknesses in some industries (textile, coal and agriculture), and also the government policies and international economic difficulties. Then, by the early 1930 with the depression spreading and affecting the entire society, the policies, philosophy and optimism that Herbert Hoover had brought to his presidency was being challenged. As a result, by the time of the elections in 1932, Hoover lost the presidency against the candidate of the Democratic Party, Franklin D. Roosevelt and his campaign of what he called the New Deal. Based on this, FDR pushed towards many solutions for the “crises of a collapsing financial system, crippling unemployment, and agricultural and industrial breakdown” (Goldfield, Page 704). Even thought when various changes were made, it was during the period right after the elections of 1936 that polit...

    Read More

  • The Great Depression in "Cinderella Man"

    1586 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Great Depression is a time in the history of the United States that people have learned and gained knowledge from. Its harsh times and conflicts have been written about in books, seen in movies, talked about on radios, and told to families throughout the generations. Seeing how life was during the 1930s in the movie, The Cinderella Man, was a great eye opener to how the people of this time truly survived and kept their true humanity in times of havoc. The time of the 1930s should be an inspiration to the nation and cause many to do well and live life smart and prosperous.

    Read More

  • The American Dream In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    1299 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although the end of World War II brought immense joy to the world, it was a turning point for American literature. Though the war was over, it was like starting over for America as it donned a new post war era. Authors and poets used their stories and characters to portray the grim era of that time and many of them reflected a guilt and disillusionment in the American dream. Though various writers had their own ideas of what the new post war America would shape out to be, not all had positive outlooks. It was a time of change as the United States was beginning its foray to the forefront of being the new cultural center and world power. Not only did a new generation come out of the war, but its ethnic, regional, and social character was

    Read More

  • Hope and Endurance in The Grapes of Wrath

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Depression was brought about through various radical economic practices and greatly affected the common man of America. Although all Americans were faced with the same fiscal disparity, a small minority began to exploit those in distress. Along the trek westward from Oklahoma, the Joad family met a grand multitude of adversity. However, this adversity was counteracted with a significant amount of endurance exhibited by the Joads and by generalized citizens of America.

    Read More

  • The Use of Force

    1585 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Use of Force, written by William Carlos Williams is a story about a conflicted unnamed doctor using physical force to determine a diagnosis. The question that is brought up is whether or not the doctor’s use of force was one of ethical duty or infuriating violence. The doctor makes it his duty to save the patient, Mathilda as she does not cooperate he makes a choice to go on and use force to open her mouth to determine her diagnosis. The choice of using force isn’t necessarily the questionable part, the motive on using physical force is debatable. The ultimate question that the short story, the Use of Force asks is whether or not the doctor’s motives become one of dutiful compassion or desirable violence.

    Read More

  • Using Force In The Use Of Force

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    Do doctors have power over their patients? Doctors are generally well trusted because they studied hard for the position they are in, they have more knowledge about illness than ordinary people and doctors are protected by law in case things go wrong. However this raises the question; are doctors susceptible to using force on their patients to get what they want?

    Read More

  • Essay On Coercive Force

    1899 Words  | 4 Pages

    Officers of the law have obtained a substantial amount of discretion due to the profession they chose. Police officers are confronted with several situations which can be threatening or potentially lethal to them to which they must react rapidly but suitably. They have also been granted the authority to infringe upon any citizen’s rights and freedoms but with great power comes great responsibilities. The foremost growing concern in today’s society is shown when police officers decide to ‘test their discretion and apply the use of force or lethal force during their encounters. Klahm IV, C., Frank, J., & Liederbach, J., (2014) argue that the defining role of police is to control civilians and to ensure the peoples safety, furthermore

    Read More

More about The Use of Force

Open Document