In the story, “Emergency” by Denis Johnson the narrator works at the emergency department in a catholic hospital. He works there with his friend, Georgie who both abuse drugs stolen from the hospital. Throughout the story they are faced with problems of having to save a patient with a knife in his eyes, runs over a rabbit and later encounters a hitchhiker. What interests me more in this story is not the narrator but, Georgie. It seems that there is a connection with him wanting to save lives and it is this binary of hope and death in life that intrigues me and swallows my attention in this story. On the outside he seems to be a dumb lunatic who seems to do bad choices and could never save anything or anyone, but there might be much more that in him with a hidden meaning deep inside this context that could be learned.
In the beginning of the story Georgie seems to just be a worthless druggie who does not seem to be going anywhere in his life. Already at the start he is already on drugs and is mopping the floor while hallucinating. However, his image of him changes when the patient Terrence Weber comes into the hospital with a knife in his eye. His wife stabbed Weber with a knife for peeking into his neighbors’ house. After being checked by the nurse and family doctor they were reluctant to help the patient. The doctor was too scared of the consequences if he failed the operation and orders the narrator to bring in other doctors. However, Georgie came back the to the rest of the group after prepping the patient with the knife in his hand:
But when Georgie came in from prepping the patient- from shaving the patient’s eyebrow and disinfecting the area around the wound, and so on – he seemed to be holding the hunting knife in his left...
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...e portrayed as useless figures in this society they manage to help and save others lives. Even on drugs they help deep and humane enough to lend a hand to others in need. Through those humane actions built up the character of Georgie a person who saves lives. What the author is trying to tell us is that everything in life is not wasted. Whether it is good or bad you can learn and feel something from out of it. For an example a good thing or situation can turn into greater things and make you feel good. In this story it shows us that even bad things can turn out into good things and into an experience. Do not dwell on the bad things and the past, learn from it, and make it into something that was worthwhile going through. With knowledge and experience we build a better character of ourselves leading us to a greater and happier self and help out the ones who need it.
Although Jake was spared his life in the great war, he lost another part of his life and future. Jack tries to compensate his lack of any real future with Brett or any other women with his passion for bullfighing and other frivalties. In John Steele Gordon’s article, “What We Lost in the Great War” Gordon laments the loss of hope and future the generation of the war felt. The characters of the novel, and especially Jake, exemplify the lack of direction felt after the war. Their aimless drinking, parties and participation in the fiesta is an example of the absence of focus in their life.
In conclusion, the story describes that life changes, and nothing stays the same throughout it. It is in the hands of the people to decide that how they want their life to be. They can make it as beautiful as they want to and they can also make it worse than it has ever been
It reminds us of a time not so different from where we live now, a world filled with lies, hatred, and moral ambiguity. It’s a story that largely reminds us as humans who we are, prone to mistakes and preconceptions that can lead to disastrous results, but also capable of growth and redemption. This story really allows you to understand different philosophies, perceptions, and differing opinions of morality and
...ting in the war is not a tragedy, a victory, a win, nor a loss but that it is no better then the real world. It is discriminatory, dishonest, and inefficient. He then notices that war is in some way unethical and irrational and that dying and living is just pure luck. Ultimately, Richie understands that there is no distinction between bad or good in the heat of battle, which caused him to realize that war taught him to him to reevaluate the understanding between life and war on his way back home from Vietnam.
Buddy demonstrates acts of sacrifice for his family. Buddy is down to earth and he has always been that way. He has always been happy with his life and made the best of what he had. He never blamed anyone for anything. He is always willing to do anything for his family. Throughout the book Buddy shows sympathy and compassion towards his family. He is representing the family by getting an education. He shows the courage to break the chain of poverty and create not only himself, but his whole family into a “somebody”. “Charley told that several months back he had picked up a kid from Buddy’s school, and Charley asked that kid whether he know Buddy or not. He told Charley that Buddy was the best
...hed everything he had ever dreamt of, only to die tragically in the end, with no one by his side. Good things only last so long, The Great Gatsby showed the darker side of the 1920’s, which was hidden behind false identity, and fake smiles. The corruption, the affairs, the abuse that most got away with, just so long as they could pay off their dues with their riches. The poignant, yet hopeful tone is about life and how it almost always ends in heartbreak or death. Life, no matter your accomplishments, ends in a depression, it sucks you down, and you either fight it or it kills you. The world is a dog eat dog world. You fight to stay alive, to make something of yourself, to survive, and in the end you usually always end up dead in a ditch somewhere, because the world took everything you had and so much more, and you have been drained of your ability to fight back.
The descriptions of Quoyle provide us with a character who has so many flaws and struggles, that he is unable to live a normal life like those around him. Quoyle’s problems started at childhood, and the narrator provides us with vivid images of his childhood. “Raised in a shuffle of dreary upstate towns” and “survived childhood” show us that it was not easy for young Quoyle. With these descriptions we get an image of how his childhood was harsh through Quoyle moving around through different towns in bad areas. The narrator continues on to Quoyle’s later life and shows through repetition the amou...
In “Georgie Porgie”, Georgie is portrayed as an abusive character. Someone who takes the more up-front, perverted, approach to women. Georgie is illustrated as someone who takes advantage ...
I learned a lot from this book I learned not to get in gangs and stay true to your family. I liked a quote in this story it said “things are rough all over” to me that meant no matter where you are where you go things are going to be rough so just stop running away from problems because it’s just going to create more. Dally and Sodapop both kind of remind me of myself because I don’t care about nothing but I can understand people and the different things they like and nothing don’t scare me. I think the theme of this story is to be your brothers keeper.
Since he had so much downtime he had added his name to a volunteer list of emergency ambulance calls. Gary and his wife had lived in very small prairie town in the middle of of a farm country. With one hamy-down ambulance that the city had given them since they had bought new ones. They had answered calls to car accidents ,farming accidents,gun accidents,poisonings,and a very good amount of heart attacks. He would usually go alone or sometimes with another man who had also volunteered to answer emergency ambulance calls. He recalls that he has seen at least a dozen heart attack victims in the last year. Sometimes the distance were so long that he could not make it. If he did they had to wait at most an hour or maybe longer for the flight for life helicopter. One day he can remember was one day a woman called and said” quick it's my Harvey he is having chest pains again”. He got in the car should of got there in twenty minutes but he got there fourteen by driving like a crazy person. Then saw the man with a weird smile as if trying to say sorry for the difficulty. The wife had also gave him a look like thank god you're here save him please the gray look on him was bad. When he tried to put him on his back he jolted for some reason as if he was getting hit by electricity became stiff and fell on the ground. He told the wife to call for the chopper. Then bent
Growing up, George had a wild childhood. His parents owned a tavern, which they lived above, and they were rarely around to give George the guidance a small child needs. George felt little love from his parents. He came from a poor family and sometimes didn't even know where his next meal was coming from.
He wrote about Johnny’s story, but Johnny was not the only child to have experienced sexual, emotional, and physical abuse within the residential school system. These types of things were happening in all residential schools across Canada. Johnny represents every Indigenous child to have experienced this. George represents every priest that has committed vile acts preaching it to be in the name of God. George couldn’t come to terms with what he had done, he refused to admit to it. The setting of the story was in a church. I believe that’s because you go to a church to confess your sins. Johnny came to George in a day dream to hear his confession. Johnny was never really there, it was just a figment of Georges imagination. This had clearly been something that George knew was wrong, but assumed he could bury it along with the children at the residential school. This came back to haunt George, this whole day dream was for him to realize what he had done and how it impacted Johnny. It was time for him to confess his greatest sin, but he couldn’t. Not to Johnny and not even to
George is pretty much in charge of Lennie and is the brains of the operation. He thinks very big of himself and thinks he's got the rest of his life planned out. He wants to own a farm someday with Lennie. He really likes to cuss and get drunk on Friday night. He always says to Lennie "If you weren't around I would have a job by now," but he really cares about him. At the end George puts Lennie out of his misery and shoots him. He said "it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life."
...ry is narrated in a very basic and rudimentary manner. However, when Harrison appears, the tone becomes more erudite, and larger and more descriptive language is used. Once Harrison is killed, the narration returns to normal. This change allows Vonnegut to emphasize the natural difference between Harrison and all other people who are placed under handicaps, as it gives him a sort of mythic quality that is a drastic change from the plainness of George and Hazel. It is also notable that the character of Hazel is excluded from this sequence, while George is not — it is noted early in the story that George is heavily handicapped both mentally and physically. Harrison’s appearance serves as a brief reprieve and ascension from the enforced mediocrity that they live in, both for George and for Harrison, and Vonnegut’s shift in tone and word choice reinforces that change.
George uses different pieces of literature from a variety of authors to bring people in perspective of what is being said in the poem. What George thinks is the major key in figuring out the meaning is by us as readers paying close attention to the three distinct ages that the speaker faces in the poem. Many authors have gave people hints telling them that the poem is a very tricky poem yet people still go with their instincts that have been glued into their brains about “choosing the road less traveled” (Frost). The way George is taking the poem is that there is the speaker which is a middle aged man, the younger self in the beginning of the poem and the older self towards the end of the poem. As the poem goes on the whole time it is talking about sorrows, claims, and choices during the three phases of life to make the person he is today. William George’s work like Nathan Cervo’s is very advanced and is meant for people who understand how to clarify the vocabulary in the source. This would be a great tool for me to use to make sure I am on the right track with my life and taking the path with less complications, making sure I have my head on straight with the correct goals to