Character Analysis
Losing Our Patients
Roy is one of the first patients to make an impression on James—and that impression isn't a good one. According to James, Roy is "thin, preppy, nearly bald [with] small nervous eyes" (1.4.66). He serves as the clinic's greeter; he leads James to his room and informs him about the job board.
The job board, of course, becomes a giant point of contention when Roy starts bullying James about the group toilets. James stands up for himself by slamming Roy against the wall, an act of violence that almost gets him booted from the clinic (luckily, Hank stands up for him).
It turns out that Roy has Multiple Personality Disorder (now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder). When James confronts him, he flips out, calling himself "Jack the man-hammer" (2.4.40) and threatening to kill everyone in an episode that pretty much just serves to make everyone at the clinic look super incompetent for not knowing about Roy's issues in the first place.
John Everett, the "Sexual Ninja" (1.4.140), is one of James's first roommates. This dude has business cards that say "sexual ninja," so you know it's official. John's proud of his crimes at first, and he's way proud of his sexual deviance. He's spent a long time in jail, he hasn't seen his daughter in years, and he was molested by his own father—so it's been a rough life.
Despite the fact that John tries to initiate sex with James in the shower, John's the first person in the clinic James starts to feel some sort of compassion for: "He will never know trust or love. You poor, sick, sad M***********. You will never know. I'm sorry" (2.1.561). It's hopeless, futile compassion, but it's still compassion.
Other roommates include Larry, who has HIV, twin girls, and a meth habit (he runs away after a few days); Warren, who gives James a shirt; and The Bald Man, who teaches James "how to cry like a man" (3.3.246).
Other patients in the clinic include Matty Jackson, a boxer whose body and teeth have deteriorated from drug use; Ed and Ted, who are Leonard's friends (between the two of them, they're alcoholics, drug dealers, car thieves, and rapists); Bobby, a lying gangster; and Miles Davis, a New Orleans judge who plays clarinet and wants to make things up to his wife.