A Response to "Emergency"

Denis Johnson's "Emergency," is a wild tale about a man lost in reality. In my opinion, Johnson is trying to explore how easily it is to get lost in life and especially within one's self. He does this by using two characters, which seem to be searching for something, but have no idea why. For example, consider the entire road trip. The two main characters are lost the entire time, yet still search for direction, but not because they have a destination.

I think Johnson’s character are very interesting people because of their broken exterior. He is conveying someone that has nothing and wants nothing more than to escape his life. For example, when both of the main characters taking pills in the ER. The most interesting thing to me about the characters is their value for life, yet they do not seem to care about their own. This is shown in two pivotal was. The first is when they are in the ER and a man walks in with a hunting knife in his eye. The orderly, who is high on pills, won’t even prep him for the doctor. However, a few moments later he comes out with a hunting knife covered in blood.  When the man was checked on, after being assumed dead, he was perfectly fine and his vitals check out. When the orderly was asked, “What do you do here?” He responded, “I save lives.” This scene in particular really caught my attention because of how convoluted his personality is.

           

            The next scene where the characters express a value for life is the scene when the orderly runs over a rabbit. Then, he rushes back to get it for dinner, but comes back with its babies. Regardless of the orderly’s intentions with the baby rabbits, he still chose to bring them back with him. While that does show a deeply disturbed person, it also shows a caring and concerned one. I think Johnson has done a good job relaying that within his characters. In my opinion, this is done strategically to convey how lost the character truly is and has no intention of ever finding a way out. He has almost become continent with being lost and not much matters anymore.

            I think Johnson’s story is an interesting one with complex characters. Overall, I think he is trying to show us how lost someone can be in life. However, even the strangest person who cannot find his way home, still has values unbeknownst to anyone.