The Pale King: Analyzing Good People

The first excerpt of The Pale King appeared in the February 5, 2007 issue of the New Yorker under the title
Good People. At the time, there was no indication that this was a novel excerpt and Wallace had not
published anything in the New Yorker in a long time (since 1995, I believe, when a couple of Infinite Jest
excerpts appeared). And it seemed a little odd. As a story it had a lot of things going on in terms of character,
diction, and themes, but, to me at least, it seemed like a slightly new trajectory for Wallace after Oblivion.
You can read the story here.
When the story came out, it generated a lot of discussion on our listserv. The following analysis was written
by a former list member and Im republishing it here (with permission) to spark new discussion about this
four-year-old story and to start thinking about some of the themes and ideas in The Pale King. Im sincerely
interested in what people have to say about this story, so you if you have something to add, please leave a
comment.
1. The story is full of references to division and dichotomy. The two main characters, the two great and
terrible armies within himself, Two-hearted, their shadow a two-headed thing in the grass before them;
the downed tree being half hidden and all half in the water; Lanes and Sheris praying over the phone
in a kind of half code. The sounds of chainsaws dividing up the past weeks storms downed trees. The
two opposite sides of the lake. The binary either/or nature of the issues Lane and Sheri must weigh abort
or carry, love or not love, truth or lie, goodness or sin.
Even the title, Good People, is a plural word used as a description of a single person (she was good
people, he was desperate to be good people), suggesting the divisions within ourselves.
(I note there are four uses in the story of the word individual as a nounits Latin meaning being not
divisible.)
And yet the whole backbone of the story is not division but union: the union of Lane and Sheri, and the
product of that union: the baby. (One could even say that the pregnant Sheri is herself two people in one
body.)
2. Lanes references to the Biblical burning lake of fire are contrasted with the constant references to freezing
and being frozen and wanting Sheri to unfreeze him. (And possibly echoed by the fact that Sheri is a hostess
at the Embers.) And the lake of fire image is echoed by the lake theyre sitting next to.
3. Religious imagery? The men fishing in the lake may be references to Christ (symbolized by the fish, the
ichthus), the first apostles (who were fishermen), and to the evangelical metaphor of being fishers of men.
Note also Sheri Fishers last name.
4. References to blackness and darkness: The whole last black week had been this way and it was wrong.
Plus the darkness and blackness of the water of the shallows, which notably is caused by the angle of the
suns light.
Plus Lanes reference to the blacks fishing on the opposite side of the lakemostly only your blacks from
the East Sidea somewhat prejudiced phrasing, dismissive, conscious of them as others.

Possibly in the same vein as the references to blankness and hiddenness. She was blank and hidden.
Storys opening line ends with: half hidden by the bank.
5. The old man looking out over the lake is identified as having a gray hat, not to mention being elderly
himself (gray), and seems to make contact with the men on the opposite site of the lake. No mention is
made of his race, but since Lanes prejudice leads him to specifically identify the fishing men as being
blacks, we can assume that the old man in the hat is white. The old man and the fishermen do seem to
make contact across the lakes wide gulfone of the fishermen raises his arm in ostensible greeting. (raises
his arm in what may be greeting, or waving off a beeLanes not a discerning enough observer of things
outside him?)
The old man and the fishermans moment of contact and grayness (black in accord with white, plus the old
mans double grayness) as a contrast to Lanes and Sheris frozen black-and-white view of things.
Note that the old man is also compared to Lanes grandfather as a young insurance man. Why insurance?
Safety, peace of mind? Profiting from fear of misfortune?
Lane thinks the old man looked more like a picture than a man looked also out of place in a suit coat or
jacket Lanes dismissiveness of the old man suggesting Lanes resistance to the old mans moment of
contact? Emphasizing Lanes youth? Perhaps the old mans evocation of an older generation echoes Lanes
thought of He felt like he knew now why it was a true sin and not just a leftover rule from past society.
6. The fallen tree while it may be an illustration equating fallen with sin (what Lane calls inborn
fallen nature), or perhaps echoing the twice-used description of Sheri as being down to earth seems to
be described with abortion/miscarriage/infant imagery:
a. Looking at the torn-up hole in the ground there where the tree had gone over
b. The shallows lapped from different directions at the tree as if almost teething on it
c. and the downed elm shed cells into the water
Further birth references in the detail about his fathers and grandfathers birthdays. Also the word born in
inborn fallen nature and last-ditch gamble born out of the desperation in Sheri Fishers soul.
7. the angle of the sun made the water of the shallows look dark a suggestion of false depth? (i.e. of
their fath?) Or of hidden stuff under the surface? (i.e. of the story, of their outward appearances)
Later: you could see into the shallows and see that all the water was moving but gently, this way and that
awareness of whats under the surface.
Also: the downed trees branches seemed to all bend so sharply just under the shallows surface
refraction of light, subjectivity of perception
8. What to make of Lanes train image?
he pictured in his mind an image of himself on a train, waving mechanically to something that got smaller
and smaller as the train pulled away
Fantasies of abandoning Sheri? Of being carried away by forces beyond his control?
9. That Lane should please please sweetie let her finish theyre both trying to cut each other off, in the
sense of interrupting each other. Parallel with being cut off from each other, and Lanes inner armies being
cut off from each other? (And the neighborhood trees being cut up by chainsaws, and the reference near the
end to the lawnmowers cutting grass?)

10. Lanes constant fear of being a hypocrite, of thinking hypocrisy a sin: the word hypocrisy comes from
hypokrisis, the Greek word for oration and theatrical acting. Perhaps he considers it a sin to communicate,
to take action, to play a role? The Greek word also has its roots in hupo (= under) + krinein (= decide,
judge).
11. Possible wordplay: Besides the many references to the downed tree, Sheris twice described as down
to earth, and having downy arms, is looking down versus Lanes job at UPS (i.e. up). Opposites?
Theyre going in different directions? Salvation vs. shame? Heaven vs. hell?
12. The two Scripture quotes:
12a. Timothy 1, disputeth over words
full quote: he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from
which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions
seems to dismiss or negate language, communication; cant communicate in ways other than evangelical
language, platitudes, prayer (in half code)
12b. Galatians 4:16, Have I then become your enemy
full quote: So then am I become your enemy, by telling you the truth?
the black/white view of morality, of being either with me or against me; making a contention out of
telling the truth
13. She continued to sit as if thinking, in the pose of thinking, like that one statue. Resembling thinking.
But not actually thinking.
14. The name Lane A. Dean, Jr. Initials = LAD, a boy. Suffix Jr., suggesting junior status, named for
ones father, living in his shadow? (the blank frozenness of his father) Plus note the connection with his
mothers father, being born on the same day, both being Cancers (literal cancers? malignant influences?).
What of the gray hat man, compared to Lanes grandfather (paternal or maternal?). References to family
lineage emphasize the issue of birth.
15. The beautifully-written two armies passage, perhaps the crux of the story:
But sitting here beside this girl as unknown to him now as outer space, waiting for whatever she might say
to unfreeze him, now he felt like he could see the edge or outline of what a real vision of Hell might be. It
was of two great and terrible armies within himself, opposed and facing each other, silent. There would be
battle but no victor. Or never a battle the armies would stay like that, motionless, looking across at each
other, and seeing therein something so different and alien from themselves that they could not understand,
could not hear each others speech as even words or read anything from what their face looked like, frozen
like that, opposed and uncomprehending, for all human time. Two-hearted, a hypocrite to yourself either
way.
It reminds me, in a way, of Sartres famous line Hell is other people only Lanes case, Hell is the others
within oneself. Those parts of our inner selves that remain forever *other* from each other, so cut off that
theyre unable to even bring themselves to the point of conflict. Interesting combination of two common
Wallacean themes: the struggle to communicate with others, and the struggle to overcome self-consciousness.
Instead of the self-consciousness cripple the communication, but in this case the lack of communication
within oneself is what cripples the self.
Also, why the idea of Hell being two armies facing each other, rather than two people facing each other, a
good angel and a bad angel, two sides of oneself? Why the military conceit? Something about religious
views of good vs. evil, Heaven vs. Hell, always a versus, a contention the idea of a battle, of life and the

world as a war against something, of Hell being a place of violence and physical pain being supplanted by
another idea of Hell as being a place not of violence but of incommunication. Not of violence but silence.
(The writers version of Hell? loss of language?)
Whats worse? Conflict, or the inability to even manifest that conflict?
16. The story is yet another instance of that scenario Wallace revisits again and again: The idea of a terror so
terrifying that the object of the terror comes true. Lane is so terrified of being a hypocrite to him its a
worse sin than even the abortion, which would place it above Commandment #1that of course his actions,
or lack of them, handily make him one: a person who believes one thing but does another thingor does
nothingand wants nothing more than for someone else to make the decision for him.
They are hamstrung by the black-and-white code their piety equips them with. Faced with a complex moral
situation that seems to demand a more nuanced outlook something other than good vs. evil, righteousness
vs. sin, with me vs. against me they have no idea what to do, and cannot reconcile their own inner
opposing thoughts, if they have them (the pose of thinking), and are so petrified of being hypocrites, so
they remain frozen and silent and cannot communicate with each other or anyone else.
Yet they both seem to be struggling against what their beliefs and values are telling them is right, though they
cant identify or name what it is inside them thats struggling. Very vague language. He felt a terrible inner
resistance but could not feel what it was that it resisted. Something in him, though, some terrible weakness
or lack of values, could not tell her. It felt like a muscle he did not have. He didnt know why; he just could
not do it, or even pray to do it.
17. Third sentence from the end: What would even Jesus do? Is this meant to be taken seriously? Its
such a cliche now, a platitude; my first reaction when I hit the line was that now DFW was just being mean,
having Lane think this in such a serious situation, resorting to such a t-shirt slogan. But maybe its meant to
be taken straight; perhaps the variation, the word even, suggests that its meant to be asked as a real
question and removed from its cliche context.
18. Sometimes they had prayed together over the phone, in a kind of half code in case anybody accidentally
picked up the extension. Is this supposed to be funny? Seems so poignant and sad and desperate despite its
absurdity praying in code, obscuring words that already probably obscure what they truly feel, what they
truly want or need to communicate to one another. Suggestion that prayer already is a kind of coded
language, intended to be spoken but not comprehended?

Wowweve got our work cut out for us

I wrote about this story last year on my Letters to DFW blog:
http://letterstodfw.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/letter-18-good-people/
But reading the above analysis peels back so many more layers of the text. It is probably one of my favorite
of his stories, and Ill certainly be going back to read it again soon.
Really wonderful, Matt. I look forward to more of your thoughts on the novel!
Another small thing that hit me was the language DFW uses balanced on a knife or wire also carries with it
abortion imagery both surgical and back alley.
Hi Matt.

Re: What to make of Lanes train image?

Id say thats one of several direct allusions to Hemingways Hills Like White Elephants. The image also
functions independently, illustrating Lanes tendency toward linear thinking (the ordered baseball diamond,
religion) and the sense of inevitability or irrevocability we are to associate with pregnancy, consequences of
life choices, etc. The nuances of the image really deepen when considered in light of how Hills deals with
these themes.
[] in his thoughts stuck out to me as a significant theme of some sort. I read an analysis here that I found
really interesting. Would I read this story again? Probably not. To me, its one []

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