Denis Johnson Emergency

I really enjoy the prospect that either Georgie’s vision is horrendous or his self medication is causing his complete oblivion to the world around him.  I think that the way that Johnson vaguely describes his visionary ignorance through dialogue without directly saying what the problem is creates a certain amount of suspense and mystery.  For instance in the scene in the drive in theatre Georgie says, “I’m starting to get my eyes back,” but the only description that Johnson offers is that “A general greyness was giving birth to various shapes, it was true.”  I think that this is a really intriguing way to describe a drug trip of some sort.  His vagueness keeps me interested in what drugs these two must have done earlier in the day that have caused their current disposition.  The disagreement between Georgie and “fuckhead” about how far they are from town leaves more questions to be answered, further suspending the reader. 

The humor in this piece is unbelievably written.  It’s so sly that it constantly arranges your face in a cracked smile.  The scene where Georgie slices a mother’s baby rabbits out of her stomach is morbid and hilarious.  The dialogue between the father driving the Dodge and Georgie is awesome.  “What is it, a snake?”  “No, it’s not a snake, It’s a rabbit with babies inside it.”  “Babies!” The mother’s reaction to this terrible image is realistic but creates such a contrast between Georgie and the family in the car that I can’t help but crack up. 

My only question is what kind of real change did Georgie undergo?  I can see that he begins as a tearful goon, but finds some self-worth between pulling the hunting knife out Terrence’s eye and cutting the baby rabbits out of the mother’s stomach, but I can’t really tell if he’s undergone change or just taken a bunch of drugs.  I can see that maybe the point is to illustrate some new sense of confidence following an LSD trip, and I guess that is a substantial change, but I can’t help but imagine that Georgie is still the unstable mess at the start of the story.