Response to "Emergency" by Denis Johnson

Several things made this piece odd, but perhaps the strangest thing about Johnson’s style is how he chooses to make his characters interact. For instance, when Georgie is given the responsibility of prepping the man with the knife in his eye, he emerges holding the very knife that was alleged to be lodge in the man’s brain. Naturally, one would expect the medical staff at hand to react in horror and dismay when an orderly appears with evidence that he may have very well killed their patient, but this is not the case. After a brief shocked silence, the doctor only asks, “Where did you get that?” Perhaps this reflects the doctor’s shock and inability to respond appropriately, but all hope of realism vanished when one of the nurses points out to Georgie, “Your shoelace is untied.” It seems as though Johnson is intentionally creating a scene that is meant to be somewhat ridiculous and unbelievable. I was reminded of epic theater to some degree; the goal is not realism, but to get the audience to think.

            It is also interesting to note how Georgie and the narrator rarely have cohesive conversations. A perfect example can be found when the two are lying on the back of Georgie’s truck on a summer day and Georgie talks about wanting to go to church while the narrator only talks about going to the fair. Being that the two were stoned for the vast majority of this story, these kinds of conversations fit expectations, but continued to distance me as a reader from a normal perception of reality within the story. The odd interactions and reactions of the characters created a kind of haze in this piece which seemed analogous to the drug usage itself and the 70’s in general. I feel I might use similar techniques only if my goal were to illustrate confusion and abstraction in my writing. All in all, an interesting piece, though it would probably take some deeper analysis to fully appreciate its intentions.