Let's think about "The Use of Force"

The Use of Force is a short story written by William Carlos Williams about a visit to the doctor's office.  Short story even shorter: the doctor uses force to examine a little girl against her will.

The big question here:  Was this necessary and right to do this?
The other questions: Was it violence? Does the end justify the means?

Was it necessary? Yes, in a way, the examination WAS necessary, but it didn't have to happen that way, his action was very rushed, and not that much time had happened, in no moment was it expressed that the doctor was in a rush, so he could have taken time to try to convince the girl at least.  What if she still didn't let him? Well, then i believe it would have been more appropriate to do what he did, but it still wouldn't have been the best, but it would have been necessary, this was a dangerous disease after all, the child's health is important.

Was it violence? Well this is very subjective, starting by the definition.  Violence is defined as "the use of physical force to harm someone, to damage property, etc." by the Merriam Webster online dictionary, which would mean that no, it wasn't violence.  To my understanding, the doctor never meant harm or damage the girl, that was just an accident.  Here's the problem, the same dictionary defines violence as great destructive force or energy.  With this definition, the act can be violence, but it easily can not be, since there's no way to measure if the force was "great or not".

And lastly, does the end justify the means? Well, we never knew the end, but it has two possibilities, the doctor got a result or not. If he did, well it kinda did, it wasn't the best way to do it, but it was important. If after that he still couldn't get it, well, that was just a rushed tough act that was a horrible call of his part, and he definitely shouldn't do something like that again (not that he should if he got the results).

Final thoughts: It was an interesting thought provoking read, and the ending is still very weird. I believe the doctor did the right thing, the wrong way, and everything that went wrong, or at least most, could have been done without problem another way.