Good People Wallace Analysis

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David Foster Wallace’s short story, “Good People,” explores the ideas of religion and faith versus convenience and worldly decisions. The story revolves around Lane A. Dean Jr. and his girlfriend, Sheri Fisher, who are both young, Christian students in college. Though both Lane and Sheri are Christians, Sheri has ironically become pregnant. As a result, the couple now contemplates the possible abortion of their unborn child. Throughout the course of the story, Wallace continuously focuses on the conflicting viewpoints of moral standards and rational decisions. Wallace’s focus on these different viewpoints creates an immense division between the characters’ own religious beliefs and the easier, more beneficial option of abortion. Thus, in “Good …show more content…
From the story’s beginning, Wallace utilizes character to illustrate the conflict between morals and logic through the physical appearance and descriptions of Lane and Sheri. In story’s opening, Wallace describes Lane and Sheri “in bluejeans and button-up shirts” (254). Later, Wallace adds that Sheri “wore a thin old checked cotton shirt with pearl-colored snaps with the long sleeves down” (254). Through these details, Wallace creates an image of two regular individuals. Besides this characteristic of normalcy, the physical descriptions of Lane and Sheri also establish the idea that these two characters are fairly honest, respectable people. In fact, Wallace states, “[Sheri] always smelled very good and clean, like someone you could trust and care about” (254). Wallace further contributes to this same idea by including Lane’s mother’s thoughts of Sheri. According to …show more content…
As the couple contemplates the abortion of their unborn baby, Wallace employs a variety of aspects of character to covey his ideas. With aspects such as physical descriptions and thoughts, Wallace sheds light on the real-life experiences of not only Christians, but many other individuals. While most humans strive to be upright individuals, they often battle between morally right decisions and easier, more rational choices. Although most humans seek perfection, as Wallace suggests, they ultimately fall short due to flawed human
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