Ordinary People: Dysfunctional Family
Thousands of people around the world suffer the consequences of not
being able to forgive, in some cases it destroys their life. Ordinary
People by Judith Guest, is the story of a dysfunctional family who relate
to one another in a very odd way. The book opens with seventeen year old
Conrad, son of upper middle-class Beth and Calvin Jarret, home after eight
months in a psychiatric hospital, there because he attempted suicide by
slashing his wrists. Canard�s mother, is very self-possessed. She appears
to have a highly developed super-ego making Conrad feel like she despises
him. She does all the rights things relating to keeping a spotless home,
plays golf and bridge with the other women ...
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mind the impossible hardship it worked on her, on them all." Conrad
is not unlike his mother. He is an overachiever, an "A" student, on the
swim team and a list-maker. His father tells the psychiatrist, "I see her
not being able to forgive him. For surviving, maybe. No, that's not it, for
being too much like her"(147). In some cases weak people tend on to forget
what�s real and what�s not, �Depending upon reality one must face, one may
prefer to opt for illusion�(93). Perhaps Beth set limits to what she is
able to handle therefore when a problem that goes beyond her limits arises,
all she knows what to do is turn her back and walk away from it. In Beth�s
own words, �I wish I knew, Conrad, why is it still so important for you to
try and hurt me�(110). At the same time she is pushing Conrad away, her
ability to forgive him for what he did becomes blurry and unreachable. An
ordinary family is what she believes she is still a part of, denying the
truth in which they are not ...
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Ordinary People: Dysfunctional Family. (2004, October 30). Retrieved May 22, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Ordinary-People-Dysfunctional-Family/16728
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"Ordinary People: Dysfunctional Family." Essayworld.com. October 30, 2004. Accessed May 22, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Ordinary-People-Dysfunctional-Family/16728.
"Ordinary People: Dysfunctional Family." Essayworld.com. October 30, 2004. Accessed May 22, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Ordinary-People-Dysfunctional-Family/16728.
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