The Use of Force by William Carlos Williams

Compare and Contrast Essay

In this essay the short story "The Use of Force" by William Carlos Williams is being compared to the short story "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid. These short stories are similar in many ways, yet they differ in many ways. Some of these include tone, structure, figure of speech, sentence structure, point of view, imagery, and style.

One of the differences is the author's style of writing. In the short story "The Use of Force" Williams tells a story using quotes and previous events. On the other hand, in the story "Girl" Kincaid writes using commands that she is told to complete. Also, Williams is writing about another set of events that are not aimed directly towards a specific person. While Kincaid writes actions that are aimed to command the reader, or to make the reader feel as if they are being told what to do. Kincaid's style also differs from Williams based upon her sentence structure.

Kincaid writes sentences containing many semicolons. For example, "Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the color clothes on Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry; don't walk bare head in the hot sun..." This continues on for the rest of the story. There are a few parts of the story where Kincaid uses commas and other types of punctuation. Williams' sentence structure is completely opposite of Kincaid's. Williams uses a more formal type of sentence structure. His sentences do not contain semicolons like Kincaid's sentences. Kincaid and Williams have many differences in their style.

Kincaid writes "Girl" in a different point of view than "The Use of Force" by Williams. Williams writes in a first person point of view, meaning he participates in the actions of the story. This also means he does not know the thoughts of the other characters in the story. Opposite of Williams' choice of point of view Kincaid writes in objective point of view. This means the narrator is not a character in the story, and does not know the thoughts of any of the characters in the story. The point of view also shows the author's imagery.

Both authors use imagery differently. Williams uses a more descriptive form of imagery. In "The Use of Force" the author says "I forced the heavy silver spoon to the back of her teeth and down her throat till she gagged. And there it was--both tonsils covered with membrane." This shows Williams' choice in using descriptive imagery. In this quote from the short story it states many descriptive phrases. Williams' choice of imagery differs from Kincaid's imagery choices. Kincaid does not use descriptive imagery. Kincaid's writing lacks the amount of descriptive words and phrases that Williams' writing contains. Although Kincaid's writing may not contain as much imagery