"How to be Good"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Nick Hornby's book, "How to be Good." It discusses the overall tone of the book and the character's relationship with each other and with other people. The paper shows how the actions of the characters are no more than two people going through the motions of being better than they really are. The paper also provides examples from the book to support this.

From the Paper:

"The charitable impulse is also something that is characteristic of good people, except in their case, specific acts of charity are merely another manifestation of a general humanistic benevolence. In David's case, his ordinary outlook is critical and judgmental rather than benevolent. So when he does actually perform a singular act of charity by stuffing some money into the hands of a homeless person, even that is done in a callous manner. In this reader's opinion, it is no coincidence either that when he does this he purposely chooses to annoy Katie at the same time by letting her think that he gave away their carfare as well. In the most general sense, good people influence others in their lives positively most of the time and negatively comparatively rarely. In David's case, he seems miserable most of the time and he characteristically shares that misery with Katie, and even when he finally does something benevolent, still manages to find some way to ruin it with his perpetual lack of sensitivity, kindness and overall human goodness."

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