Extremity: Defining What Makes You, You

Long-time readers will notice the praise I give to Daniel Warren Johnson. I won’t touch on why I love his work so much. (If you’d like to know, please read my review of his story, “Do A Powerbomb.”) Over the week, I read one of his first published stories, Extremity.

Before I begin, please think about one personal trait or skill you are proud of. Now imagine that trait is taken away from you. We’ve all felt this way before. “My jokes aren’t funny.” “My beauty is deteriorating with age.” “My memory isn’t what it used to be.” These are all things people are proud of but are not permanent.

While these things fade and evolve, humans can adapt to change and alter their course accordingly. We throw ourselves into something new and reinvent ourselves every day. Either for better or worse.

Let us begin. Extremity follows the story of a young artist named Thea. It is set in a dystopian society ruled by warring factions: the Rotos and the Paznina. Thea and her family belong to the Rotos, and her father is their leader.

After a sudden and violent attack from the Paznina, Thea loses her hand in the attack, a symbolic humiliation. The Paznina leader wants to strike and humiliate the Rotos. They do this by crippling the clan’s artist and the leader’s heir.

Thea’s loss is more than physical. Her hand represents a core part of her identity and self-expression as an artist. Without it, she’s left with not only physical pain but also a deep sense of emptiness and frustration. Thea’s story explores what happens when the thing that defines us is forcibly taken away, leaving us to confront who we are without it.

In Extremity, Johnson uses Thea’s journey to explore the cycle of revenge and the search for identity. Thea’s father, Jerome, becomes consumed by a desire for vengeance against the Paznina, a quest that drags their family and community into a spiral of violence. Meanwhile, Thea is forced to navigate her own conflicting emotions: the anger she feels towards those who took so much from her and the yearning to move beyond the destruction that now surrounds her.

Extremity ultimately raises powerful questions about identity, resilience, and transformation. What do we become when we lose the thing that once defined us? Can we rebuild ourselves in the face of unimaginable loss?