Good People Wallace Summary

Words: 1489
Pages: 6

How well do we know the individuals in Wallace's Good People? I would suggest that the people and places in this story are much closer to home than we may have thought. Wallace addresses a an issue that he knows the readers of his story are familiar with, the characters, the scenery and even the conflicts the young couple is shown facing in their adult, yet adolescent relationship. These two individuals are not meant to be just Lane A. Dean, Jr., and Sheri Fisher, his girlfriend, these are a couple young people from our home town, particularly Lane Dean. Perhaps we have known Lane's parents since they moved to town, we watched from a neighborly distance as Lane grew up and attended high school, it may be that we first started to notice his …show more content…
“This is her own decision and obliges him to nothing. That she knows he does not love her, not that way,...She will carry this, and have it, and love it and make no claim on Lane”(258). We get to see exactly what Lane has been thinking from the start of this story, he has been trying to find a way, any way, to get out of his own mistake. He has no regard for anyone other than himself, nor is he willing to give anything up for someone whose life he had disrupted for his selfish ambitions. Wallace does not grant us to know if Sheri Fisher proceeds to get an abortion, however, I believe she follows through with ending the baby's life. Sheri knows that when her, deeply Christian parents learn of her per-marriage pregnancy they will be extremely displeased. Also, we are told that Sheri never reached out for support from her pastor, youth pastor or any of her mentors or peers that one would normally turn to in a time of crisis. Finally, Lane Dean does not verbalize his deep desire to allow the child to live, rather, he encourages the abortion for the sake of his convenience. All these reasons together make it easy to believe that Sheri Fisher has the abortion and ends her relationship with Lane A. Dean, Jr. allowing him to escape the immediate consequences of his actions, to go doing as he pleases seeking his own selfish