Short Stories

“The Use of Force” by William Carlos Williams (who would name their child William Williams, I don’t know) shocked me when it got to be so violent. When the girl bit down on the tongue depressor and blood went everywhere I didn’t expect her to be so obstinate. Obviously the child was scared and didn’t want to show that she had the deadly disease of diphtheria. But perhaps the doctor, being overworked and underpaid in these times – $3 for a visit – was the cause of the ruckus, and the character we were supposed to pay attention to. Maybe his impatience with the parents and pitying respect for the “brat” came from his experience with having a difficult job, working with hurting patients, many of whom die. In Eudora Welty’s “A Visit of Charity” I expected Marian to get to know the old ladies, once she finally started talking and asked how old she was. However, when the woman grabbed Marian in the hallway and asked her for money, they kept their scary old image, but also reflected the care they were given. This was illustrated by the nurse’s 3-step process of checking her watch, indicating the impersonal care the old ladies were getting. I didn’t think the apple was a reference to Adam and Eve, but rather a healthy fruit to calm her after leaving a place of such shocking reality. The most shocking reality, however, was in Anton Chekhov’s “Sleepy,” when the girl strangles the baby. When I think back about it, the memories of her father dying may have foreshadowed the sadness in her. Also, the lack of sleep, which had undoubtedly been going on for at least days on end, is enough to drive anyone insane. But by having her kill the child instead of run away or just fall asleep, Chekhov shows the horror in the everyday lives of lower class servants in that time.