Annotated Bibliography
Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. Encyclopedia of Feminist Literature. InfoBase Publishing, 2006
Snodgrass provides a review of a variety of genres explored over the years by various feminists on topics and issues that affect women. The book provides a broad range of non- fiction and fiction authors who have written various literary pieces on feminist themes that signal the evolution of feminism. The book deals with a wide range of themes, from abortion to male- female violence to rape.
Snodgrass merely reviews fiction and non- fiction on feminist issues. She gives an account of the feminist themes explored in these books with a brief critical analysis of what the literature signaled with regards to women's issues and the directions that feminist literature followed as it evolved over the years. The book is a good resource for any scholar researching on the literature written over the years on the various feminist issues.
Snodgrass's book is relevant to the essay for its discussion on the theme of abortion. According to the book, the theme of abortion is quite persistent in feminist literature and women's history. The author explores the feminist perceptions on abortion over the years with some penning literature that viewed abortion as a gender and economic issue rather than a moral or religious concern while others termed abortion as some sort of fixed institution in America. Chapters in the book can provide useful material to a scholar seeking to write fiction or non- fiction that explores the theme of abortion.
Banker, Denise C. Too Real for Fiction: Abortion Themes in YA Literature. The Allan Review, 1995.
Banker provides a literary resource guide for young adults who desire to examine the choices that they have made and to evaluate their lives ahead through various forms of fiction and non- fiction literature available for people their age. The source allows teenagers to formulate, discover and form opinions and values on issues affecting them through the choices of the fictional characters in various literatures.
Banker tries to compile literature that would be both entertaining and at the same time be able to educate the young adults on the choices they are faced with every day. The resource offers literature in the form of fiction and non- fiction stories and resources dealing with relevant issues faced by young adults of which society gives differing views which render them confused.
The resource is relevant to the essay because it provides a discussion on the theme of abortion. Various fiction and non- fiction books are analyzed and recommended for their ability to help educate young adults in addition to allowing them to develop tolerance and empathy towards others and to expand their attitudes towards the issue of abortion. The resource can be a valuable resource for a scholar exploring the theme of abortion in literature and fiction.
Myrsiades, Linda S. Splitting the Baby: The Culture of Abortion in Literature and Law, Rhetoric and Cartoons. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2002.
Myrsiades identifies abortion as a central polemic issue that is often discussed within the American society. The author seeks to explore and analyze the various perspectives of the abortion debate through rhetoric, literature, law and cartoon sources.
Myrsiades offers a wide range of literature, cartoons, short fiction and law resources that deal with the polemic debate on abortion. The various chapters are a good resource for an analysis of the forms of literature dealing with the issue of abortion. The book shows how the issue has been approached from various societal aspects which could be a good resource for research and literary students.
Moffett, James. Liberating Inner Speech. National Council of Teachers of English, 1985.
Moffett explores the use of inner speech in literature and its implications. The author also provides an analysis of the various times that authors have used the inner speech of a character to communicate as a form of expression. He analyses the implications of the use of inner speech in stories and the differing effects it produces.
Moffett provides a good resource on the implications of the inner voice. The author draws his conclusions from the various stories written over the years of characters who used their inner voices in various situations that they were confronted with and the results thereof. From one character, Moffett draws the conclusion that thinking is compulsive and does not achieve any good while in another instance, he describes a character's plight as one that represents how self- limiting inner speech can be to a person.
In relation to the essay, Wallace uses the inner voice or inner musings and ramblings of the young Christian man to communicate his feelings towards the situation he is faced with. Moffett's article can be used as a good resource for students of literature to study the many voices that writers can use stylistically to narrate stories. Moffett explores the effect of the use of the inner voice and his analysis can be useful to any student of literature to analyze a work of literature.
Wyile, Andrea Schwenke. The Value of Singularity in First- and Restricted Third- Person Engaging Narration. Children's Literature 2003.
Wyile explores the effects that the first and restricted third – person narration has on the reader and the overall construction of the text. He also explores how the use of restricted third- person narration relates to how the readers view the character.
The relevance of this resource in the essay is to provide an understanding to a literature student on why Wallace used the kind of narration he used on the story. The kind of narration used by an author ultimately decides the effect that the literary piece will have on the reader. The resource provides information to a literary student attempting an analysis of Wallace's short story and the effect of using a particular stylistic device.
Cadden, Mike. The Irony of Narration in the Young Adult Novel. Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 2000.
Cadden, in his article, considers the preference of the use of first person narration by many authors when writing fiction for young adults and that deal with the issues facing young adults. According to Cadden, a special relationship exists between the authors of young adult literature and their readers. The author attests to the fact that adults can never really portray an authentic adolescent voice that provides insight and sheds light on the emotions and experiences of adolescent lives.
Friedman, Norman. Point of View in Fiction: The Development of a Critical Concept. Modern Language Association, 1955.
Friedman questions the need for an omniscient author in contemporary fiction. The book is basically about authors’ choice to use one point of view in narration as opposed to another. It offers advice on the kind of a point of view that would best suit contemporary writing.
The relevance of this book is to help a literature student in the analysis of a story. The book puts a focus on the technique used to write a work of fiction as opposed to the various embellishments used. It is only through considering a technique that a subject or theme can be discovered, explored and developed and ultimately conveyed to its reader.
Part 2
David Foster Wallace's short story, "Good People" is based on the inner musings of a young man seated out on a bench with his girlfriend who is contemplating aborting the fetus she is carrying. Both are devout Christians faced with an unplanned pregnancy of which none can confess to their parents or spiritual authority. Wallace's focus is not on the abortion itself or how the pregnancy came about. His main focus is on the inner ramblings of the young Christian man trying to decide whether he should accept and support his girlfriend's decision to procure an abortion and the nervousness, confusion, and uncertainty he faces at that moment. The story poses the question whether the decision to procure an abortion should be made based on moral and religious inclinations or simply gender and economic proclivities.
Wallace's character, Lane A. Dean, Jr is a devout Christian and considers all the religious implications of the decision he and his girlfriend have made. The thought of having an unplanned pregnancy and considering abortion made him feel like he was not a Christian anymore, "He was starting to believe that he might not be serious in his faith" and "He rarely before now had thought of damnation and hell" (Wallace). The author writes the story in a way to show how the two are struggling with the decision but ultimately, it becomes evident that their Christian backgrounds and inclinations prevail and influence them to make the decision (Banker, 1995). The moral and religious implications of having sex and the consequent unplanned pregnancy haunt them both. The author gives an account of the two praying and seeking guidance from Jesus Christ on the decision to make which is not clear at first but eventually would be based on their faith in God. Society and other people's opinions should not matter or frighten a person into making decisions that they would later regret (Myrsiades, 2002).
Wallace uses a lot of imagery in his writing. He uses a lot of sensory details to draw the reader in (Friedman, 1955) and portray the nervousness and indecisive state of the two characters at that moment, "Their postures on the picnic table were both the same forward kind with their shoulders rounded and their elbows on their knees" (Wallace). The author also uses symbolism in the form of the man standing some distance away, seeming still and capable of being overlooked. The man in the distance could be a symbol of God and His omnipresent nature. He is always at a distance near but far at the same time.
In conclusion, the story portrays the difficulty young people go through when having to decide on sensitive issues in their lives. In as much as they are both Christians, the decision on what to do was not easy due to the many repercussions that would come about. The authors reference to the moral values and laws and even quoting of scripture suggests that for a Christian couple, the decision on whether to abort or not ultimately becomes a moral one.
Works Cited
Banker, Denise C. Too Real for Fiction: Abortion Themes in YA Literature. The Allan Review, 1995. Print
Cadden, Mike. The Irony of Narration in the Young Adult Novel. Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 2000. Print
Friedman, Norman. Point of View in Fiction: The Development of a Critical Concept. Modern Language Association, 1955. Print
Moffett, James. Liberating Inner Speech. National Council of Teachers of English, 1985. Print
Myrsiades, Linda S. Splitting the Baby: The Culture of Abortion in Literature and Law, Rhetoric and Cartoons. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2002. Print
Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. Encyclopedia of Feminist Literature. InfoBase Publishing, 2006. Print
Wyile, Andrea Schwenke. The Value of Singularity in First- and Restricted Third- Person Engaging Narration. Children's Literature 2003. Print
