Judith Guest's "Ordinary People": Summary
Ordinary People by Judith Guest is the story of a dysfunctional family
who relate to one another through a series of extensive defense mechanisms, i.e.
an unconscious process whereby reality is distorted to reduce or prevent
anxiety. The book opens with seventeen year old Conrad, son of upper middle-
class Beth and Calvin Jarrett, home after eight months in a psychiatric
hospital, there because he had attempted suicide by slashing his wrists. His
mother is a meticulously orderly person who, Jared, through projection, feels
despises him. She does all the right things; attending to Jared's physical
needs, keeping a spotless home, plays golf and bridge with other women in her
social ...
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seems bent on perpetuating the family myth that all is well in the world.
His family, after all, "are people of good taste. They do not discuss a
problem in the face of the problem. And, besides, there is no problem." Yet,
there is not one problem in this family but two - Conrad's suicide and the
death by drowning of Conrad's older brother, Buck.
Conrad eventually contacts a psychiatrist, Dr. Berger, because he feels
the "air is full of flying glass" and wants to feel in control. Their initial
sessions together frustrate the psychiatrist because of Conrad's inability to
express his feelings. Berger cajoles him into expressing his emotions by
saying, "That's what happens when you bury this junk, kiddo. It keeps
resurfacing. Won't leave you alone." Conrad's slow but steady journey
towards healing seems partially the result of cathartic revelations which
purge guilt feelings regarding his brother's death and his family's denial of
that death, plus the "love of a ...
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is not mad, the psychiatrist
says, "Now that is a lie. You are mad as hell." Conrad asserts that, "When
you let yourself feel, all you feel is lousy." When his psychiatrist
questions him about his relationship with his mother, Calvin says, "My mother
and I do not connect. Why should it bother me? My mother is a very private
person." This sort of response is called, in psychological literature,
"rationalization".
We see Conrad's anger and aggression is displaced, i.e. vented on
another, as when he physically attacked a schoolmate. Yet, he also turns his
anger on himself and expresses in extreme and dangerous depression and guilt.
"Guilt is a normal emotion felt by most people, ...
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Judith Guest's "Ordinary People": Summary. (2005, April 13). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Judith-Guests-Ordinary-People-Summary/25263
"Judith Guest's "Ordinary People": Summary." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 13 Apr. 2005. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Judith-Guests-Ordinary-People-Summary/25263>
"Judith Guest's "Ordinary People": Summary." Essayworld.com. April 13, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Judith-Guests-Ordinary-People-Summary/25263.
"Judith Guest's "Ordinary People": Summary." Essayworld.com. April 13, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Judith-Guests-Ordinary-People-Summary/25263.
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