OPPapers.com

Ordinary People

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 words "is an emotional cripple". Jared's father, raised in
an orphanage, seems anxious to please everyone, a
commonplace reaction of individuals who, as children,
experienced parental indifference or inconsistency. Though a
successful tax attorney, he is jumpy around Conrad, and,
according to his wife, drinks too many martinis. Conrad
seems consumed with despair. A return to normalcy, school
and home-life, appear to be more than Conrad can handle.
Chalk-faced, hair-hacked Conrad 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...