In Shannon Burke's novel Black Flies Ollie Cross is a medic in Harlem during the 1990s. Fresh out of college, Ollie did not get into med school so he decides to get some experience and becomes a medic. He experiences the many gruesome scenes that come with being a medic in one of the most violent, poverty ridden cities. He sees the dead bodies of teenagers who have committed suicide, helps to save an old asthmatic, rushes gun shot victims to hospitals, and learns how the some of the other medics abuse their patients just becuase they can. So far Ollie is just starting to become "one of the guys" and is begining to fit in with the other medics. In this reading Ollie is present when a diabetic dies and goes into an apartment only to find a rotting body. As disturbing as these occurences may be, he is eager to learn and help and pays close attention to everything going on around him. He is also called to speak to the chief and is warned to look out for his partner Rutkovsky who, though an exceptional medic, might be starting to burn out. He learns to watch out for LaFontaine, another medic who pretends not to care about anything and abuses many of his patients just because he can. Ollie continues to learn and adapts to the life of a medic.
One day Ollie and LaFontaine are talking and LaFontaine asks Ollie to guess what day he is on. Not understanding, Ollie asks what he is talking about. LaFontaine replies, "Seventeen days without anyone thanking me. I keep track," (Burke 35). Ollie has grown up in a stable family and is used to people being polite and grateful for help. He does not quite no how to respond to the comment and just sits there. Even though Ollie is adapting to the difficult life of a medic in Harlem, I think he still believes people are good and have just gone through hard times. He is starting to realize that not all people are naturally good and polite and just need a little help to break free from their current surroundings. I am shocked that people do not thank the medics that just saved their lives. A life is very valuable, and if someone saves it for you, that is a big deal. Thinking about this, maybe the patients don't say thank you because they do not feel as if their lives were valuable. They live in one of the worst, most poverty stricken, crime ridden cities in the United States and might not feel as if life is totally worth living. This is something I can continue to look for.
Ollie later mentions some things he has seen but the reader has not been given a full account of. The medics are sitting around talking and they talk about how messed up the city is. They mention things they see on a daily basis, like, "...a teenager giving birth in a hallway, a guy lighting himself on fire and jumping out a window, dozens of rotting bodies in various stages of decay," (Burke 49). Sadly, this is becoming Ollie's life. He is surrounded by so much destruction and despair. It has caused some of the other medics to abandon their morals, and this could very easily happen to Ollie. I am still shocked at how difficult like as a medic is. Dealing with all of these awful things on a daily basis would be too hard for me. I think Ollie is becoming more comfortable with all of these things because he experiences them every day. I continue to hope that Ollie does not become immune to these tragedies and become abusive like the other medics.
So far Ollie has shown an eagerness to help, but I am unsure whether he will be able to keep up that attitude when he is surrounded by so many horrible things. I think this will take a toll on his relationships and how he even views himself. Hopefully is able to remain a "good guy".
Source
Burke, Shannon. Black Flies. New York: Soft Skull P, 2008.
*Black Flies should be underlined
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2 comments:
It's really scary to read about medics abusing their patients. Although abuse is probably the last thing the patients need, I can understand that a medic who was exposed to so much trauma and death everyday would develop mental problems. It's unfortunate that the severe cases that the patients have make the medics' lives worse, instead of the medics improving the patient's lives significantly. I hope that medics like Ollie don't become so disturbed that they have some of the same problems as their patients.
I've actually heard of medics making their patients' problems worse through physical and mental abuse. It's morbidly interesting to think that people who are supposed to help actually go the wrong way. A horror story.
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