The Postmodern Condition in “The Devil is a Busy Man” Booker Smith College

In his short story “The Devil is a Busy Man,” David Foster Wallace asserts that Americans are obsessed with maintaining a facade of sincerity; ironically, this desire to appear sincere is the tragic root of the country’s widespread insincerity. The narrator frets over the perception of the “nice thing [they did] for someone” and laments, “A lack of namelessness on my part would destroy the ultimate value of the nice act,” arguing that the expectation of recognition—wanting someone to acknowledge a generous act—“empties” the gesture of any value (3070). The narrator is not concerned with being a good person, but rather being perceived as a good person. It is not that the narrator truly wishes to remain anonymous—throughout the story, s/he tries to resist the temptation of consciously revealing their identity—it is that their desire to receive “affection and approval” is outweighed by their fear of seeming gauche and selfish (3070). To this end, Wallace demonstrates that America is most saliently concerned with maintaining appearances. Even though the narrator freely admits that, internally, s/he wants to be acknowledged for their kind deed, they would be loathe to let others know that. This suggests that hiding one’s internal...