Essay on "Good People"
Good People
What does it mean to be a good person? How can one respect oneself without hurting others? Are we able to judge whether a decision is wrong or right? Do we really know what love is? ... Questions like these have always existed, but what happens when an author tries to comprehend the complexity of being ‘good people’? Is it possible to write about an issue like this? In David Foster Wallace’s short story “Good People” from 2007 we experience an attempt to do so.
In the short story ”Good People” Wallace manages to reflect upon the complex discussion of what ‘good people’ are, as this is the main theme of the text. To discuss this the story revolves around supporting themes of religious, existentialistic and ethical character. The religious theme is expressed in the discussion of abortion, in which the main character Lane at one point admits that “he did not know what to do”1 about this dilemma. The existentialistic theme is conveyed in Lane’s realization that he had not “once said it, avowed that he did love her”2. The ethical theme we meet in the dilemma of Lane discussing whether he is dishonest and respectful. Admitting that “he could not say he did: it was not true3” that he loved her, Wallace creates a starting point for a discussion on ethics about honesty, respect and self-respect.
The plot of the story consists of one long reflection in the mind of our main character, plot-wise known as an internal conflict. He reflects on the difficult situation, that he and his fiancée find themselves in, by creating imaginary conflicts between the two of them, while also circling around the supporting themes with relevance to the main theme. The internal conflict of the main character, created as the basis of the plot, results in a plot driven by a non-chronological structure. Instead of unfolding the subject of the story linearly, the story moves forward in circles. Along with this it describes a development in the main character’s cognitive
What does it mean to be a good person? How can one respect oneself without hurting others? Are we able to judge whether a decision is wrong or right? Do we really know what love is? ... Questions like these have always existed, but what happens when an author tries to comprehend the complexity of being ‘good people’? Is it possible to write about an issue like this? In David Foster Wallace’s short story “Good People” from 2007 we experience an attempt to do so.
In the short story ”Good People” Wallace manages to reflect upon the complex discussion of what ‘good people’ are, as this is the main theme of the text. To discuss this the story revolves around supporting themes of religious, existentialistic and ethical character. The religious theme is expressed in the discussion of abortion, in which the main character Lane at one point admits that “he did not know what to do”1 about this dilemma. The existentialistic theme is conveyed in Lane’s realization that he had not “once said it, avowed that he did love her”2. The ethical theme we meet in the dilemma of Lane discussing whether he is dishonest and respectful. Admitting that “he could not say he did: it was not true3” that he loved her, Wallace creates a starting point for a discussion on ethics about honesty, respect and self-respect.
The plot of the story consists of one long reflection in the mind of our main character, plot-wise known as an internal conflict. He reflects on the difficult situation, that he and his fiancée find themselves in, by creating imaginary conflicts between the two of them, while also circling around the supporting themes with relevance to the main theme. The internal conflict of the main character, created as the basis of the plot, results in a plot driven by a non-chronological structure. Instead of unfolding the subject of the story linearly, the story moves forward in circles. Along with this it describes a development in the main character’s cognitive