Response to Denis Johnson's "Emergency"

       I found Johnson's short story through a stoner's eyes extremely entertaining and interesting. The dream-like quality and haziness throughout the story actually kept my hand turning each page to read what would happen next. Although many dramatic things happened, such as running over a rabbit, saving its babies, removing a knife from a man's eye, etc., the story lacked any sort of build-up. This made it difficult for me to become emotionally attached to the story or even the characters. The flat tone of how the story is told by the narrator and the odd responses each character has towards events, seem to make it a little disconnected to me as a reader; of course, that could just due to Georgie and the narrator being on high on stolen hospital drugs. For example, Georgie miraculously removes a knife from a man's lustful eye, and a nurse's only response to it is that Georgie needs to tie his shoe laces. Since these records are being recalled from the narrator's point of view and he says several times that he's not positive on all the details, some disconnection from the story and the reader also comes into play because we as readers do not see the narrator as a valid source for information. Also, the flat tone for me brought in a sense of humor because of the irony of the story. Heavy themes of death, failure, escape, guilt, saving lives, and even sight, are shown throughout the piece, but yet  they are presented in a light or passive way. Plus, the two main characters are high. As a whole, I did enjoy Johnson's short story. It made me laugh, search for a deeper meaning in the story, and confused me, but in a good way. Though as a reader I felt a little emotionally disconnected, it actually made me use my imagination to put myself in the main character's shoes.