Good People Wallace Analysis

David Foster Wallace’s “Good People” shows Lane A. Dean, Jr. and his girlfriend, Sheri Fisher, as they struggle to decide to go through with an abortion. Lane and Sheri are Christians, so abortions are considered morally wrong according to their religion. Lane thinks it would be best for him if Sheri went through with it, but he feels guilty about it because he grew up being told it was wrong. They should stop worrying about it being wrong and think about what is best for their futures. Lane knew that having a child would be a lot of responsibility and is afraid of how it could affect his life. He tried to convince Sherri to go through with it while making it seem like they made the decision together. The narrator wrote that Sherri “was serious about her faith and values” (Wallace 3). Sheri is struggling …show more content…
Lane realizes that “She can neither do this thing today nor carry a child alone and shame her family. Her values blocked the way either way” (Wallace 5). From Sheri’s perspective, she is trapped with a decision where both of her options would be breaking her values, and Lane finally starts to see how this is affecting Sheri. The only way for Sheri to keep her values is if they raise the child together as a family, but she can only do that if Lane wants to. Lane would feel too guilty leaving her on her own, so he will probably end up staying with Sheri and raising the kid. Lane and Sheri both want to stick to their values, but this decision is making it impossible for them to. This decision is hard because their religion says that abortion is wrong. They are thinking about doing something that will change the rest of their lives forever just because they want to stick to their values. Lane and Sheri have no reason to feel guilty and they should think about what they want for themselves and their futures without worrying about