Williams' style of writing is different than that of the other stories we've read in class. He does not spend any time developing the characters (like Updike did in A&P), or establishing a setting (Like Gilman did in The Yellow Wallpaper). By not describing the child, he doesn't give her an identity, making the story (and experience of the doctor) less personal. And by not setting the scene it shows that nothing else matters except what is going on between the doctor and the child.
Also, Williams does not use any quotation marks during the dialogue between the doctor and the child or between the doctor and the child's parents. This made me question whether or not the conversation actually happened, or if it was a fantasy the doctor created in his mind or an internal dialogue he was having with himself. I just found his style of writing interesting and it helps to conveys the message of a "bad doctor".
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Sarah,
ReplyDeleteLack of quotation marks around dialogue is a stylistic convention that many authors use. Some introduce dialogue with a dash, such as James Joyce or Dave Eggers. Others, like Williams, may use commas or nothing to introduce the dialogue. These authors feel that their dialogue should be identifiable as dialogue because it "sounds" so much like real speech. It's sort of a self-challenge, if you will.
Eric
"In the story the doctor almost enjoys putting the child through pain, the story makes you question the integrity of doctors."
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of trouble even agreeing with that statement in even the slightest of terms. Doctors by definition have to exert an amount of sadism in order to achieve the end result, which as we all know is the patient's recovery. For example, if the patient were to have a tumor, the doctor must exert some amount of sadism in order to not only slice open, but also remove a portion of another living being's body in order to repair the patient; or in the case of a patient suffering from an illness such as cancer (for dramatic effects, of course) doctors must prescribe a regiment of chemotherapy which in turn eradicates the patient's immune which again requires an amount of sadism. So to say that any doctor takes pleasure in patients squirming in pain, or to even question their integrity is no different than calling an executioner a cold-blooded killer for fulfilling a death-sentence.
It was interesting that you pointed out that the author doesn't explain character's background.
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