Personification And Hyperbole In Good People By David Foster Wallace

“Good People”
Teen pregnancy has went from a norm, to a taboo, to somewhat in between. People who often get pregnant as teens during these days gets ridiculed but expected. Between the couple, the mother usually gets the brunt of it. It’s hard to make a decision to give birth or to stop the process. Either way ends up in more ridicule. If they decide to give birth, friends and family might turn their back or people might say rude things because of the mother being at a young age. If they decided to stop the process, people will call her a murderer and tell her she is going to hell. In “Good People” by David Foster Wallace, Sherri wants to keep the baby, even knowing the struggles she will face. She hopes that Lane will be a good person and stick with her, even after giving him an out. In this story, personification and hyperbole is shown throughout to help understand the theme of faith and integrity.
Through “Good People”, readers can tell the tone is serious and stays that way throughout. This park setting, even though it is very open, offers a more intimate setting for the characters than a restaurant or house would. This story is about Lane A. Dean Jr. and his girlfriend, Sherri. Sherri has become pregnant and they

had both agreed on getting an abortion. Sherri has second thoughts and while they sit at the park, Lane is trying to get her to go through with it. Throughout the story and the help of the limited third-person narrator, we know that Lane struggles with his faith unlike the way Sherri does. We know from Lane that Sherri is strong in her belief and that either way, this situation goes against a part of it. Lane does not love Sherri the way she does with him and finds himself wondering if he is a hypocrite to his faith for not telling her this. Sherri knows about this though and offers him a way out. Even though she does this, she hopes he is good and decides to stay by her.
Personification is a literary element shown in the story. Personification is giving an inanimate object human characteristics. This happens when Lane is looking at a broken tree in the park. “The shallows lapped from different directions at the tree as if almost teething on it” (Wallace, 928). The shallows of the water do not have teeth, so it cannot be teething on the tree. This is important because in this situation, they are talking about having a baby. Though Lane does not dwell on this, it shows that he is thinking about it more than just the appointment and his faith.
Hyperbole is another literary elements shown in the story.

Hyperbole is when something is exaggerated. Lane did this a lot throughout the story. “He was freezing more and more solid…” (Wallace, 928). Lane is described as freezing or already frozen multiple time throughout the story. He is not actually frozen and is just used to show the readers how stiff he is throughout the story. They also use this with Sherri. Wallace describes her as “blank and hidden” (929). Lane could not figure out what she was thinking and this hyperbole gave us understanding on how he saw Sherri. Later on in the story, he was able to find out what Sherri was thinking and that was her hoping that Lane is good enough to not let her go through this

alone.
People reading this story might get confused on what they are talking about until later on in the story. Rereading it, the hyperboles and personifications in the story, help the reader reach to the conclusion a lot faster. “Good People” is an interesting read and offers the perspective of Lane struggling with the decision with not only being a part of this child’s life. It also shows his struggle with his faith and integrity. Should he do what’s right by Sherri since he is part of the reason she is in this situation? Or should he take the way out that Sherri offered him? The ending ends with just questions and readers are made to think of what Lane would have done. This leaves the readers to open interpretation and discussions on what could happen.