Lane A. Wallace's Short Story 'Good People'

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The short story “Good People” has very few characters but it makes up for that fact by making the main character full of depth. Lane A. Dean, Jr. is portrayed to have faults as well as strengths, and this portrayal provides a more realistic feel to him than if he had been given a spotless personality. Although Lane is full of faults, he changes for the better as the story progresses.

Before Lane A. Dean, Jr. changes for the better, he was struggling with how to tell his girlfriend that he didn’t love her and that he thought she should abort their child. His feelings were complicated by the fact that he valued himself as a Christian. Lane’s values as a Christian pointed toward keeping the baby and marrying his girlfriend, Sheri Fisher, but even though …show more content…
He was sure that he didn’t love Sheri, but he never came right out and told her whether he loved her or not. Lane just didn’t have the courage to tell Sheri that he didn’t love her “He didn’t know why; he just could not do it, or even pray to do it” (Wallace 153). On the second to last page of the story Lane had a moment of clarity. He realized that he wasn’t actually a hypocrite, he just screwed up just like everyone else. Everyone makes mistakes, but it doesn’t make someone a hypocrite, it just means that they’re not perfect “He was not a hypocrite, just broken and split off like all men” (Wallace 154). In that same moment of clarity, Lane became aware of what Sheri was about to say to him as she turned toward him on the picnic table. Sheri was going to say that she had to have the baby and that she didn’t want him to feel like he needed to be involved in any way. She was also going to say that she knew he didn’t love her, but what she wasn’t going to say is that there wasn’t a good option, she could either have an abortion or be a single mother. This revelation caused Lane to feel sorry for Sheri, and because of this, brought an interesting question to mind “why
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