Whats The Use of Force about

1
Whats The Use of Force about?

2
Whats The Use of Force about?

• Answer Theres not a right answer.

3
Whats The Use of Force about?

• Answer Theres not a right answer.
• Or rather Theres not one right answer.

4
The point is to train yourself to recognize when
a narrator is giving you evaluative cluesand/or
when hes giving you room to judge for yourself.
5
You could say that its a story about

• Losing your cool under trying circumstances

6
You could say that its a story about

• Losing your cool under trying circumstances
• How easily good intentions can go bad, how easily
  benevolence can slip into cruelty

7
You could say that its a story about

• Losing your cool under trying circumstances
• How easily good intentions can go bad, how easily
  benevolence can slip into cruelty
• The abuse of authority (or How the potential for
  abuse of power lies waiting in even the most
  ordinary and humble of settings)

8
You could say that its a story about

• Rationalizing ugly/disturbing/inappropriate/
  unprofessional behavior with high-minded excuses
  (or The moral somersaults we turn to justify
  aggression after the fact)

9
You could say that its a story about

• Rationalizing ugly/disturbing/inappropriate/
  unprofessional behavior with high-minded excuses
  (or The moral somersaults we turn to justify
  aggression after the fact)
• The thin line between brute force and socially
  sanctioned force (or How brute force often
  masquerades as sanctioned force)

10
You could say that its a story about

• Rationalizing ugly/disturbing/inappropriate/
  unprofessional behavior with high-minded excuses
  (or The moral somersaults we turn to justify
  aggression after the fact)
• The thin line between brute force and socially
  sanctioned force (or How brute force often
  masquerades as sanctioned force)
• The gendered and sexualized violencecall it
  sadism or even rape if you wantthat lurks just
  beneath the surface of ordinary power relations
  structures of authority

11
You can conclude that its about any of those
thingsbut you still need to notice

• that the story announces it will be about The
  Use of Force (which immediately leads you to
  ask what does it mean to say or show about the
  use of force?)

12
You can conclude that its about any of those
thingsbut you still need to notice

• that the story announces it will be about The
  Use of Force (which immediately leads you to
  ask what does it mean to say or show about the
  use of force?)
• that the narrator often characterizes his
  interaction with his patient not as a medical
  exam, but a power struggle, a battle (he
  describes the girl more than once as a fierce
  animal, in fact, and he intermittently
  acknowledges that doctor is a role hes
  playing, sometimes badly)

13
You can conclude that its about any of those
thingsbut you still need to notice

• that the story announces it will be about The
  Use of Force (which immediately leads you to
  ask what does it mean to say or show about the
  use of force?)
• that the narrator often characterizes his
  interaction with his patient not as a medical
  exam, but a power struggle, a battle (he
  describes the girl more than once as a fierce
  animal, in fact, and he intermittently
  acknowledges that doctor is a role hes
  playing, sometimes badly)
• that the narrator scrupulously tracks his state
  of mind throughout the incident and seems very
  anxious to sort out, justify, rationalize his
  embarassingly unprofessional behavior after the
  fact

14
You can conclude that its about any of those
thingsbut you still need to notice

• that he repeatedly uses language or phrasing that
  has resonances in other arenas of life language
  that could easily signify something else in
  another context language that many of us, in
  fact, would more readily associate with sexual
  violence rather than with a medical exam

15
She was fairly eating me up with her cold,
steady eyes.an unusually attractive little
thingher face was flushed, she was breathing
rapidlyShe had magnificent blond hair, in
profusion.Look here, I said to herYoure
old enough to understand.Her breaths were
coming faster and fasterI had already fallen
in love with the savage bratshe surely rose to
magnificent heights of insane fury of effort bred
of her terror of me.Dont, youre hurting me.
Let go of my hands. Let them go I tell you.
Then she shrieked terrifyingly, hysterically.
Stop it! Stop it! Youre killing me!Do you
think she can stand it, doctor!I tried to
hold myself down but I couldnt.Ihad 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.A blind fury, a feeling of adult shame,
bred of a longing for muscular release, are the
operatives. One goes on to the end.In a
final unreasoning assault I overpowered her
neck and jaws. I forced itdown her throat
until she gagged.Now truly she was
furious.tears of defeat blinded her eyes.