Black Flies #6

Shannon Burke's novel Black Flies tells the story of Ollie Cross, a medic in Harlem during the 1990s. Ollie is fresh out of college and is not ready for the harsh life of an inner-city medic. He is faced with horrible people, who some may argue, do not deserve to be treated. He experiences some bizarre and gruesome cases. In the beginning Ollie was just wanted to help everyone. As he learns more about the world he entered into, he starts to believe it might be better for Harlem if he doesn't help everyone. He starts to think that not everyone deserves help. When his former partner commits suicide, Ollie starts to lose his compassion. Another medic, Marmol, notices this and warns Ollie that this is not good. When Ollie remarks that that he knows who he is and won't lose sight of his morals, Marmol says, "You can get lost up here. This may not be the life you wanted, but here you are, and you're right on the edge of something. We all see it. Who you wanna be, Cross?" (Burke 160). Ollie is starting to lose his morals and his compassion for his victims. Even the other medics are noticing it and are concerned because they like the way Ollie was when he first joined them. Marmol really asks Ollie to consider what he is doing with his life, and if it leads to what he truly wants. It doesn't immediatly do much, however. Ollie continues working with LaFontaine, the most corrupt medic, and does't try to stop his inhumane actions. Ollie says, "Every time I worked with LaFontaine he'd do some f*cked-up thing to the unconscious or the helpless patients. It was like he wanted me to see and was waiting for me to goin him, but I didn't stop him, either. Truthfully, I didn't really care. I thought I already felt completely vacant inside" (Burke 162). While Ollie might not be directly participating in the abuse, he is still an enabler. In my opinion, this is just as bad as participating. It is really interesting how Ollie feels empty inside. Humans need compassion and the desire to do good things to fill them up, and without them Ollie is empty. He lost he love of life and all of the enjoyment that comes with it. Luckily Ollie stops working with LaFontaine for the most part and is encouraged by his new partner.



Ollie begins to work with Verdis, probably the most caring medic. Ollie originally does not help Verdis with the patients at all. He just sits there hollowly and allows Verdis to do all the work. Verdis seems to know that Ollie just needs patience and compassion and he will return to his former self. With Verdis by his side he begins to break out of his shell. Ollie starts working on his patients and even stands up to LaFontaine when LaFontaine wants to leave a man who overdosed. Ollie even finally gets his save. A young girl was electrocuted in the laundry room of an apartment building when the building caught on fire and the showers started going off. Ollie disregards the potential electorcution and shocks the girl and, "On the monitor her rhythm went flat for an even longer time, then bounced up with a heartbeat" (Burke 181). Ollie finally realizes that he loves to care for people and cannot just let an injury go untreated. He saved the girl's life, when many people would have just left her for dead. Ollie has managed to overcome the harsh life of a Harlem medic and remember his morals and compassion. He had a difficult journey, but he is finally successful at being a good medic. Not only is he medically capable, he is emotionally capable and is ready for whatever challenges might come his way.

Source

Burke, Shannon. Black Flies. New York: Soft Skull P, 2008.*Black Flies should be underlined