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 circle, but, in her own ...
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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 good woman. Jeannine, who sings soprano to ...
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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, but among survivors it takes on special meaning. Most feel guilty about the ...
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"Ordinary People." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 20 Dec. 2006. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Ordinary-People/57423>
"Ordinary People." Essayworld.com. December 20, 2006. Accessed April 25, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Ordinary-People/57423.
"Ordinary People." Essayworld.com. December 20, 2006. Accessed April 25, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Ordinary-People/57423.
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