Good People by David Foster Wallace - Book Report/Review Example

?David Foster Wallace’s Good People (2007) Being a “good person” is a ive idea for most people. It can be defined through many terms, such as being pleasant in the eyes, having unworldly-thoughts, doing helpful deeds, having a strong-rooted spiritual or religious self, or maybe a combination of everything that is defined by most people as well and good. In David Foster Wallace’s Good People written in 2007, the definition of what is good challenges the common notion of what is good by delving in the thoughts and feelings of people who might otherwise be considered to be “good” based on old-fashioned standards. The two protagonists, Lane A. Dean Jr. and Sheri Fisher can be seen as “good people” in mechanical terms: they know the bible; they go to church services; they pray; and they believe that doing these things make them good people. However, after a hurdle appeared in the course of their relationship, their views on what is good becomes diverged, and after deciding on what matters most, readers of their story will come to terms in choosing between the two people would be seen as a “good” person. Lane Dean Jr. is as a religious person, and at the beginning of the story he is described as someone who has strong tendencies to turn to the Higher Power, and he does it “…when alone and thinking or struggling to turn a matter over to Jesus Christ in prayer…” (Wallace par. 1). However, his ability to pray easily to his God became difficult after encountering a life-changing experience, one which challenged his beliefs, to the point that “…he started to believe that he was not serious in his faith.” (Wallace par. 2). Reading through the story’s hushed undertones can give the reader an idea that Lane crossed a line and was now starting to accept his fate of going to hell for suggesting something which, through seeing things in his moral compass was very wrong, and understood why doing something as they did was deemed to be wrong, that it was “…a true sin and not just a leftover rule from a past society.” (Wallace par. 3). Judging from how Lane was having so much inner turmoil throughout the few paragraphs of the story, he made at least two grave mistakes which make his guilt spring out freely. It is implied that he had impregnated Sheri, but did not want to take any responsibility for it, and for that reason he feels that he committed sin by creating a child out of wedlock. But an even graver sin for him is that his farce bravery regarding as to how things happened did not hold as he actually had the boldness to send Sheri to a clinic or hospital to have the child taken out of her womb, as implied by the words “waiting room”, “appointment”, “decision” and schedule”. While still striving to compose himself and be as normal as possible, based on his internal turmoil and thoughts on going to Hell for what he did, it is easy to deduce that Lane was trying desperately to be “good” because he did not feel any clearness in his conscience, so in order to be as good as he sees fit, he tries to be so that he could feel that he really was a “good person” (Wallace par. 2). His choices made him doubt his “good” nature, making him feel like actually looking forward to a trip to Hell already. While seeing himself to be unworthy and a grave sinner, Sheri was seen by Lane to be “good” in various ways. One is her physical attributes, which he likes, another is her “down to earth nature”, and third is the fact that she also has strong religious beliefs, or at least that is how he sees her (Wallace par. 2). What cemented the belief that Sheri is a much more “good person” than Lane was is that she was able to do the very thing that Lane was afraid of: losing face among people due to sins but still facing the consequences anyway. While Lane was busy trying to put his guilty thoughts to rest and desperately convincing himself that his decision was forgivable by a compassionate God, Sheri was praying her doubts off, until she finally came to the conclusion that what she prayed for helped her decide that “… this is what love commands of her.” (Wallace par. 5). Without any qualms or even trying to force Lane to stay with her, she was more than proud to say that “this is her own decision and obliges him to nothing… She will carry this, and have it, and love it and make no claim on Lane…” (Wallace, par. 5). What even moved Lane more is that while Sheri herself has so many doubts on the implications of keeping her unborn child, she still sees him as a “good” person, and that is something that he does not understand. Based on Sheri’s actions, while it is only implied that she did try to mask her own doubts and fears, she still contained some of her transparency, just enough for Lane to see that in spite of the retributions of losing face, Sheri was still quite happy with her decision. For her, Lane was still a “good” person despite his reckless decisions since in the end he allowed her to do what she wanted and did not force her to lose the baby to keep their dignity intact. It can be said that by living the sin and admitting its truth was what made Sheri a “good” person, maybe even a better one than Lane. This can be supported by the idea that Sheri was able to decide by having her conscience cleared, as well as having herself prepared in facing several harsh truths: that Lane does not love her as she thought he did; that he was very confused and did not know what to do; and that he did not really want to have anything to do with her due to his religious upbringing and beliefs (Wallace par. 5). If not for pride and honor, it would have been easy for Sheri to agree with Lane’s idea, but as a person capable of love, she let go of such things and instead accepted her fate fully. She has another life in her, and based on her own ideas on religion and spirituality, by not letting go of her unborn child, she has seen past her previous mistake and did not commit another one by having the child taken away from her. In both Lane and the reader’s eyes, this is an act that is worthy of being considered to be what “good people” would do, despite the consequences. The two protagonists in the story start out as two good people, but based on how things happened, it can be said that while one of the two was “good” mostly in what is seen from the outside, it is what is done inside that makes a person good. Lane was able to recognize that Sheri was much more of the “good people” than he was due to her convictions and actions, and this was the hidden idea that runs through the entirety of the whole story. Work Cited Wallace, Davis Foster. Good People - The New Yorker. 5 February 2007. Web. 29 July 2013. Read More