Indiscriminate employment of power and force, aslosh with egoism, vendetta or propaganda, fails to attain anything constructive. Power and force play an active, binding and controlling role in human interactions, from the classroom interactions to the high-stakes international politics and diplomacy.

To understand the nuanced masquerade of power and force, I have selected two short stories, "The Use of Force" by William Carlos Williams and "Thank You, Ma'am" by Langston Hughes. While the former story spotlights the moral corrosion of authority, the latter treats of the metanoic potential the force of empathy possesses.

Williams' story enacts a doctor's adamant pursuit of diagnosing an apprehensive child, Mathilda (who, like all the children, holds the doctor as a bogeyman), apparently to save her from a diphtheria outbreak in the vicinity. What begins as a clinical duty ends up becoming a violent clash between the "arch rivals". The line of control between objective urgency and obstinate violence blurs.

The........

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