John Q.

Theme : a father taking an ER hostage to have his son undergo a surgery

Morality : the love of parents is the most powerful one
Main Character
: John Quency Archibald (brave, gentle, depressed)
Supporting Characters
: Dennise Archibald (loving, faithful, tough), Mike Archibald (strong,
cheerful), James Palumbo (helpful), dr Turner (submissive),
negosiator (helpful, understanding)

Vocabulary
Continent : abstentious
Appeal : entreaty
Magnitude : significance
Foremost : prior
Merit : virtue
Slop : spatter
Compatible : congenial
Oath : pledge
Murder : victimize
Verdict : judgement
Grievance : injustice
Count : consideration
Sentencing : condemn
Defect : deformity
Rattle : clamor
Allowance : share
Septum : dissepiment
Sew up : monopolize
Infuriate : enrage
Bureaucracy : officialism
Synopsis
Maybe it's true what people say, that love is the most powerful thing in the world.
People can take such great actions powered by love. This story tells about the extreme
decision a father had to make to save his beloved son.
John Quency Archibald was just a blue collar worker in heavy machine factory
with debts to pay and a family to feed. One day his son, Mikey Archibald, was
competing in a baseball competition when all at once he collapsed in the field. His
father immediately rushed him to Hope Memorial Hospital to get treatment. It turned
out that Mikey had suffered a heart disease since he was a baby but the family wasn’t
told. Now Mikey heart was failing and he needed a transplant as soon as possible. The
problem was John's job didn't provide insurance for this immense surgery and John
himself was flat broke at that time. Luckily, he managed to assure the hospital to keep
his son treatment going while he tried to find part-time job to earn pin money from
here and there. But no matter how hard he insisted, the hospital wouldn't perform the
surgery. Instead, they were going to release Mikey. The freaked out wife, Dennise
Archibald, begged John to do something, anything. After beating his brain out, John
decided to take the most extreme action he could think of to get his child under a
surgery. He took the ER along with the doctors, staffs and patients as hostages. Doing
this, he caught people's attention, including government. In a conversation with
police's top negotiator, John mentioned he wanted Mikey's name written on the list of
the heart recipients right away and he wanted a heart donor before 5.15 p.m. or he
would start killing the hostages. The negotiator had no option than to agree. In the
meantime, John showed his goodwill by letting go some hostages all of who testified
for John. But the government and the hospital manager betrayed him. The told his
wife that they already put Mikey on the list, but then when the wife called John in
excitement, a sniper tried to kill John from the ER ceiling. John was beyond furious
and disappointed. He took the sniper hostage and later traded him with his son. When
his son arrived at the ER, John felt there was no use waiting for donor while Mikey
was getting worse. So he thought his only chance would be giving up his heart for his
little one. At first everybody in the ER was against that idea, but John just didn’t care
about their opinions and insisted to sacrifice himself for Mikey. However, just before
John pulled the trigger, his wife ran, banging on the ER door, screaming that a miracle
happened, Mikey found a suitable donor. John then let all the hostages go and had
Mikey go under the surgery.
After the surgery, John was arrested and 3 months later sentenced 1 week at the
prison for kidnapping those people. Nevertheless, his families, relatives, even the
hostages who had been treated very well were proud of what he has done.