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The exposition to “Emergency” establishes a simple backdrop and cast of characters. Set in a hospital emergency room in 1973, the story centers around an unnamed narrator who has been working as a clerk at the hospital for about three weeks. His friend Georgie, an orderly, steals drugs from the hospital. Those stolen drugs exacerbate the story’s major conflict: the protagonist’s struggle to escape the monotony and distress of the emergency room environment, as well as his efforts to ignore the war in Vietnam and turbulence in the outside world.
In the opening scene, the narrator finds Georgie crying and mopping up what he thinks is blood, a drug-induced hallucination. Despite Georgie’s hallucinations, the narrator steals drugs from him, not even knowing what they are. Both men’s escapist drug use—the effort to avoid pressures of workplace and world—lead them to make bad decisions, including taking more drugs.
Weber, in the narrative’s inciting incident, enters the emergency room with a hunting knife buried in his eye. The incident draws attention to the pressure of work in the emergency room, as well as to the distress of its employees. Orderlies and clerks are high, nurses seem disinterested, and doctors appear incompetent. The actions hint that the true emergency of the story’s title may comprise these inherent dangers, although the characters remain calm. Despite the knife in his eye, Weber can still see and remains remarkably calm about his situation. The on-duty Nurse is likewise unfazed by Weber’s condition. She calls for the Family Services doctor, delighted to bring him in for a case likely out of his competency. While specialists debate Weber’s case, Georgie inexplicably pulls out the knife. Ironically, it is the drug-addled Georgie who takes immediate action while medical professionals wrestle over what to do. Georgie’s behaviors may be consistently irrational, but he acts when other characters are frozen with indecision. Weber, despite the chaos and seriousness of events, seems to recover well.
As the rising action unfolds, however, the narrator and Georgie make efforts to escape the distress of the emergency room. When their shift ends, they enjoy a pleasant day driving around, visit an uninteresting county fair, then drive even more, unable to find the road back to town. Both men are lost literally and mentally, due to their escapism and drug use. They hit and kill a jackrabbit, then extract its unborn bunnies from its womb, drawing life from death. They then exit the safety of the truck and wander aimlessly in the woods during a snowstorm. The dark night and swirling snow mirrors both the men’s drug-induced disorientation and the disarray of the world they inhabit.
As the story approaches its climax, the two men stumble across a drive-in theater. The scene draws symbolic attention to the pressures of the outside world. At first, the narrator mistakes the drive-in for a military graveyard and sees angels coming down from the sky. This mistaken perception reveals the narrator’s awareness of outside pressures with which he and Georgie seem unconcerned—that of the Vietnam conflict and the draft. The narrator is awed and terrified until Georgie points out the reality of the scene, feeling astonished at the absurdity of a drive-in showing movies in a blizzard. This absurdity highlights the irrational nature of the world the two men experience, a world that inspires their equally irrational drug use and escapism.
At the story’s climax, the two men return to the safety of the truck to settle in for the night, only to discover that the life-affirming rescue of the bunnies has turned to defeat. The narrator realizes that he has accidentally crushed and killed the bunnies, and the men’s carelessness and drug use have brought about a tragic but inevitable end. Avoidance and escapism have failed them.
As the story winds toward its resolution, the narrator and Georgie awaken to a beautiful world transformed by snow. The narrator acknowledges that this beautiful sight would not have been possible if the drugs hadn’t led them to this moment. His perceptions—the result of his attempts to escape—have changed. He views this period as a magical time between their previous work shift and the next. Indeed, when the two men return to the hospital, nothing has changed in the environment itself. Even Weber has been discharged, miraculously showing no lasting effects of his injury.
The story’s denouement takes place in a flashback. Reflecting upon the drive back into town, the narrator sees clearly the difference between himself and Georgie. Georgie, in the end, adopts action rather than escape. The two men pick up an AWOL soldier hitchhiking his way to Canada, and Georgie volunteers to help him avoid the war. Asked about his job, Georgie replies “I save lives.” This declaration hints at a tragic resolution to the narrative, suggesting that Georgie longs to be actively engaged in helping others. Conditions, however, have led him toward other, maddeningly irrational escapist behaviors that he is unlikely to overcome.
