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An Analysis of Wallace’s Good People

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Submitted By ouyangtt
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When I first read a short story of David Foster Wallace, titled “Good People”, I did not understand any meanings behind it. The story only involved very few physical movements, but more on main character, Lane A. Dean, Jr.’s internal conflicts. The story happened beside a lake, where the main characters, Lane and his girlfriend, Sheri Fisher sat and tried to figure out a way to deal with pregnancy. There are no dialogues happened in whole story, the place does not change as well. However, when I read this story again and again, I could always learn something new from it after each time I read. The external plot may be dull, but the internal plot, which is inner thoughts of Lane is well-written and full of rich meanings. Though it is a short story, Wallace skillfully applied elements of fictions, plot, setting, symbolism and theme to form a luxury recipe, which greatly contributed to the meaning of Good People. Wallace focused on internal plot of Good People that thoughtfully explained the mental struggles of Lane that he narrated by a third person omniscient point of view. Such point of view is a perfect match for this story because it helps reader to understand the story frame faster. More importantly, third person create a distance from characters and their thoughts, so that reader can have more space to analyze but not affect too much by characters. For the first time reading, I did not know what the story is about. Until the very last paragraphs, a few words mentioned about baby, have I suddenly realized Sheri may be pregnant. Then I quickly went back to the beginning and was eager to read it again. At first, Lane was so nervous and freaked out by the fact that Sheri is pregnant. He sat “very still and immobile”. Then, the text suggested that they may have an appointment for abortion soon from Lane “would go with her and be there with her”, and “he would be in

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