John Quincy Lockdown

John Quincy can be classified as primary deviance since he never killed or hurt anyone. He only caused this lockdown because his son had been dying and desperate times had called for desperate measure. John was a struggling hard worker father and husband. He lived by each paycheck he received, with his son Michael and wife who worked at a super market and barely made minimum wage. Everything seemed to be a normal, John taking his son to school everyday, attending the regular Sunday little league baseball games.
Until on tragic morning, the family was out for another one of Michael’s games when he collapsed on the field. His son ended up needed a heart transplant and the family did not have enough money for the surgery, no matter how much John

was able to raise, donate and sell. Nothing had been good enough, he was still short thousands of dollars and his insurance could not cover everything. Frustrated and confused John knew he had to do something since his son was dying and he still did not have enough money for the heart surgery. John took an unarmed gun and caused a lockdown in the hospital. During this lockdown this created a media explosion, everyone was gathering around to see John Q a quiet man who “would never hurt a fly” creating such a scene for his only son. When family and friends saw John on national live television, fighting for his dying child to get a heart transplant. This moved so many people and opened their eyes to see that it is not fair, without the proper insurance, someone cannot get the proper medical service.
In the end, John Quincy was not a deviant character. He can only be described as primary deviance since this was his first time actually committing a deviant crime. Family and friends were interviewed and all had confirmed that John is a good father, would do anything to protect his family from falling into more poverty and even their lives no matter what the cost. Therefore John, holding people hostage was not out of a murderous rant. This was solely to get his son’s name on the donor list, so his son had a chance to survive.
2.) Many factors were shown through the movie, that led up to John’s deviant action of holding people hostages and causing a lockdown.

In the beginning of the movie, it showed his car being towed since he did not have enough money to pay the bank. The car being taken away, should his family was in poverty and barely made ends meet. Even though both parents worked their jobs none of this was enough to live comfortably. There debt created tension in the family, because the mother now had no car to travel to work. She yelled at John in the opening scenes, stressing John out telling he better fix it.
The second example had been when John’s son had first fallen ill and the parents found out that their son needed a heart transplant. This had hocked and confused on what the couple should do to cover such an expensive treatment. John ended up selling many of their precious and valuable items to cover the cost of the surgery. Ultimately, this was still not enough or even close to the cost of undergoing the operation. John was still frustrated and lost even more hope when he found out his insurance was not able to cover the

cost.
The last issue that influenced John’s behavior had been when his wife called John up to say the hospital was discharging their son. During the call, the wife again in anger and desperation told John he better come up with a way to fix this problem and now. Hearing the news about his son confused his since he just the day before made a down payment to the hospital. After confronting the doctor, and the doctor saying there was nothing he could do or was there anything that could be done. John flew into an angry rage, and demanded his son’s name be put on the list.

3.) John had committed this action out of choice, in society no one can just kidnap a group on individuals and expect to get the same results that this movie achieved.

He knew that holding people hostage would get him in deep trouble with the law, he still decided to go through with it because he son’s health means everything to him. At the end of the movie, John had almost taken away his own life just so his son can live. The action of deviance was only committed because of the strong love and bond John has for his son. He knew that creating a ruckus was the only way to get the media to open their eyes and realize that his son needed a heart transplant.
4.) There were two overall messages in this film, the first is that deviant acts are done by many factors in a person’s life or community. The second was the importance of everyone in The United States having the health care insurance, to be able to receive the necessary surges or treatments to continue living their

lives.
John Q in the beginning of the movie had no reason to commit any violence crimes since he was not making a lot but just enough to support his family. Only when his son needed a heart, was the main factor for John’s deviant crimes. Without the major influence of his son, John would never dream of going into the local hospital and keeping random people hostage. Another message shown in the movie was the importance of America having health care for everyone. Denying a sick or dying citizen the proper medicine or resources to survive should not be constitutional. This should be a basic right for everyone in society; going into a hospital and threatening innocent lives should not achieve this.