`` Good People `` By Wallace

"Faye, we're in this together-you and I. Don't you see that? It's not just your problem, it's ours." Faye was afraid to come out with her secret of not being able to conceive children, mainly because she thought that that would affect her relationship with Kai. "If I told you...you wouldn't want me anymore!" Kai understood what Faye was going through. He knew how much it meant to her to have children. He also knew that he had to stay by her side during her grief. But Faye felt like she was letting him down. "Kai, I...I can't live all my life with your regret and your disappointment. Every time we see some pregnant woman, every time we're with somebody else's children I'll feel I've failed you! I..." At this point, Kai showed his sympathy for her. It did not matter to him that his children would not come directly from inside of her. All he cared about was being happy with Faye and being able to spend the rest of his life with her. However, Faye could not understand why he wanted to be with her and not any other woman who could give life to his children. "You have a choice, don't you see that? You don't have to marry me. You could marry someone else and have children of your own." With Faye saying that, Kai still chose to be with Faye because she is the only woman he has ever loved since the first day they met. He could not compare any other woman to Faye, mainly because Faye was

Although Jig and Sheri were both dealing with the same issue of not wanting to have an abortion, they both interacted with their partners differently. While the American spoke with Jig over some alcohol, he downplayed the seriousness of the procedure. Jig was easily influenced by what the American was telling her and she even said, “Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me” (Hemingway 637). While Jig did not want to have the procedure done, the way she interacted with her partner shows she cares more about his approval than she cares about herself. Also, it shows that when Jig interacts with her boyfriend, she is not willing to communicate her true feelings. Unlike Jig, Sheri is sure of herself and was not seeking her boyfriend’s approval. While Sheri did not speak in the short story, Lane had a vision of her saying, “This is her own decision and obliges him to nothing” (Wallace 258). Lane’s vision of their interaction shows that Sheri is not afraid to

Thesis Statement: In Flannery O'Connor's short story "Good Country People," the expulsion of the outside world allows for more emphasis on the symbolic nature of each of the active characters.

David Foster Wallace’s short story “Good People” uses the themes of division, isolation, and loneliness to suggest how communication can overcomes these psychological problems. These themes, prominent in the story of a young couple struggling with how to react to an unwanted pregnancy, are present in many of Wallace’s stories, and come from his own struggles and literary influences.

Lane A. Dean Jr. and Sheri Fisher, a young couple, are sitting together on a picnic table near a lake. Sheri has her face buried in her hands while Lane seems to sit paralyzed from his own overthinking because they have recently found out Sheri is pregnant. Originally Lane seems to try and convince Sheri to get an abortion despite their religious backgrounds, but Sheri will later change her mind and decide she has no choice but to keep the child. This fictional story, “Good People” by David Foster Wallace, is through the point of view of Lane. Considering a large portion of this story is made up of Lane’s thoughts, feelings, and worries, his character can be easily depicted. These depictions will also show that Lane is not to be considered good people.

The choice to exclude more than is revealed throughout David Foster Wallace’s “Good People” provides ample room for interpretation. Specifically, the complete lack of Sheri’s perspective brings a depth of understanding to Lane’s mind: “This down-to-earth girl that

Never in anybody’s time should you ever put someone else first before over yourself. Doing that just leads down a road of destruction, and then the fact that this whole conversation is about abortion they probably should just get rid of it because she could just end up alone. Jig sounds as if she has no will or fight in her so she probably shouldn’t take care of a child. The baby in this story played a huge role for its future possible parents. The couple had to make a decision that if it were the wrong one could have broken them up, or made their relationship a happy one.

David Foster Wallace’s “Good People,” is a very touching, powerful story about a young, unwed, Christian couple facing an extremely difficult decision and the moral and religious implications that may result. As the story begins, we are allowed into the head of Lane Dean, a college student, as he sits on a park bench with his girlfriend, Sheri. Lane and Sheri find themselves faced with an unplanned pregnancy, which causes them to battle with several moral and religious dilemmas. Both of them are devout Christians who have built their moral beliefs upon God and their religious upbringing. Although torn Sheri schedules an abortion, which weighs on Lane deeply. Lane, frozen in fear and not having the courage to freely talk to Sheri about

She is just trying to do what he wants to do, to please him, even though she does not like it. He says that, "It's really an awfully simple operation…not really an operation at all.'; He does not know the feelings and pressure that the girl is under, and not being the person who has to have the operation, he could say that easily. However, if he really cared about her, he should listen to her inner thoughts. There should be a more serious and honest conversation between these people. The girl should not compromise if it bothers her, and she should clearly state what she thinks. What the girl wants is not the sweet words such as, "I love you now,'; or "I care about you,'; but real action where he shows his caring and loving by truly understanding her.

The ending of the story is rather ambiguous as it is not completely obvious what decision the two end up making. The man could have talked the girl into undergoing the procedure, or not. At one point toward the end, Jig tells him to “please please please please please please please stop talking”, and when he doesn’t she threatens to scream. This probably means that she had made up her mind, but it could be in either direction. In the end, she smiles at him, and he asks her if she feels better; she says that she feels fine. That could mean that she had made peace with the decision to abort their child or that she was proud of herself for finally standing up to him and making her choice not to abort final. Either way, making this choice is harder on her as she would be the one to undergo the operation, and she very well knows that he most likely will not stay with her if she decides to keep the child. No matter what she chooses, however, their relationship will never be the same.

In the short story “Good People” by David Foster Wallace, Lane Dean and his girlfriend are in college. They get pregnant. Lane is nineteen and his girlfriend is twenty. They are very religious people who don’t believe in sex out of wedlock however they end up having sex and getting pregnant. They do not know what to do. Lane Dean is characterized as a very religious and faithful person. He is not as faithful as the author makes him seem, as he questions if he should stay with the girl and the child.

It’s really not anything. It’s just to let the air in. (…) We’ll be fine afterward. Just like we were before” (pg 639). Although she does seem to struggle with the decision, it isn’t long until she relinquishes her objection, giving him authority over her morality and judgment.

The man, however, is not the sole contributor to the communication breakdown. Right away the girl begins to show her weakness and inability to express herself. When the man initially directs the conversation to the operation (abortion), her reaction is described: "The girl looked at the ground the table legs rested on [and] . . . did not say anything" (275). Failure to state her conviction is illustrated in this example, and is further indicated by frail hints of her desire to keep the baby: "Once they take it away, you never get it back" (276). An obvious hint, yet she never clearly voices her hunger to have the baby. She continues to desire his will over hers in lines such as this one: "Then I?ll do it [have an abortion]. Because I don?t care about me" (275).

From this, the audience can deduce that the girl does not have a stronger voice in their relationship and has to comply with the man’s wishes. This is also later seen when the man and the girl are discussing about whether they should carry on an operation that is unknown to the reader. The reader can see that the girl is hesitant about letting this operation happen however her partner is very persuasive. He tells her that the operation is “the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy.”

They both love the child but the couple still chose to end their relationship without considering how their child would feel. While he is still packing, she notices the baby’s picture lying on the bed then she picks it up. After that, she went back into the living room. Eventually, when he caught up to her he said,