In Judith Guest’s novel, Ordinary People, Beth, Calvin, and their son Conrad are living in the aftermath of the death of the other son. Conrad is filled with grief and guilt to the extent of a suicide attempt. Beth had always seemed to prefer his brother and has difficulty showing empathy towards Conrad or Calvin. Calvin is stuck between the two trying to hold the family together while also trying to keep himself from falling apart. The novel shows different ways people communicate and how this can either rebuild or destroy relationships.…
Cal pours himself a drink (he has been doing a lot of this lately, he remarks to himself) and talks to Conrad while waiting for Beth to get ready. He is unsure what to talk to Con about, but asks him what he was doing today; Con tells him he was in Skokie seeing someone he knows, but will say no more. He tells Cal that he has a midterm on Tuesday and has to study. Cal mentions London, and Conrad says that whatever they decide is fine. He'll go for Christmas if they want; he doesn't want to spoil their plans. Beth appears, and she and Cal leave Con alone.…
I decided to base my clinical assessment of a movie character on Conrad Jarrett, the lead character of the film Ordinary People. Conrad is seventeen years old and is the only child of Beth and Calvin Jarrett. The Jarrett’s live in the affluent suburb of Lake Forest, Illinois, where Calvin works as a successful tax attorney. The Jarrett’s have just recently experienced a family tragedy, where their eldest son, Buck, drown in a boating accident, while Conrad witnessed the entire event. Six month after the accident, Conrad has become severely depressed, and slit his wrists with a razor blade in a failed suicide attempt. His parents discovered him unconscious in the bathroom, and immediately committed him to a psychiatric hospital. He spent eight months in treatment and has recently returned home, as well as resumed his classes at Lake Forest High School. He is struggling socially, academically, and has a strained relationship with his mother, Beth. Immediately following his discharge, Conrad continues to experience nightmares, and flashbacks to the boating accident in which he watched his older brother die from drowning. He is also experiencing chronic agitation, appetite loss, poor concentration, and avoidance of his former friends and extracurricular activities. When Conrad was receiving treatment, he was initially diagnosed with major depression with agitation, without active suicidal ideation. He attends psychotherapy twice weekly with Dr. Tyrone Berger.…
In Suzanne Britt’s essay titled “Neat People vs. Sloppy People,” she is essentially making a comparison between those who are neat freaks and those who are more unorganized. It is clear that she is more on the side of those who are a little less organized. Britt says that “neat people” are selfish and unmotivated. It is clear that she is more in tune with the so called “sloppy people.”…
The definition of a sense of identity is the condition of being oneself and not another. In Ordinary People, Judith Guest refers to Conrad Jarrett as "A newborn fawn without his mother (46)." Ever since Conrad lost his brother, Buck, in a tragic boating accident, he feels guilty and that he is to blame. He loses his sense of identity, but with the help of Jeannine, Dr. Berger, and Calvin, he is able to reevaluate himself and become an "ordinary person" once again.…
i. In next 20 years, the number of elderly drivers triple in amount according to Smart Motorist…
“Good literature substitutes for an experience which we, ourselves, have not yet experienced.” Even though you don’t experience things in real life you can still learn from the things you read. I agree with this quote because people don’t have to go through life experiences in order to understand what they read. When you read a book you can learn from it without going through the exact situation as the characters go through.…
In Suzanne Britt's "Neat People Vs. Sloppy People" and Dave Barry's " Batting Clean Up and Striking Out" both author's examine just complicated human relationships can be considering how many types of personalities are out there. They both share certain literary elements, but differ immensely in the realms of tone, thesis and organization methods.…
The mother, Beth, has Predictability dialectic because she always keeps thinking about Buck’s dead was not happened; she always thought nothing was happened.…
The vast, dry Sahara covers most of Libya, and the country has few natural resources. But the discovery of petroleum in 1959 injected huge sums of money into Libya's economy. The government of Libya used some of this wealth to improve farmland and provide services for the people.…
Christine Pinsent-Johnson has written a story titled “The Visitor”. At the beginning of this story the town of Copelin, Newfoundland was slowly dying and lots of people were leaving to find a better life. William wanted to leave to but his dad, Graham-Percy, didn’t want to have to find a new job because he knew he would never find one as good as his current job. Will hadn’t been very happy with his dad lately; he wanted him to just stand up and state his mind, not to agree to everyone else even if he didn’t agree inside.…
It seems that rude people are everywhere today: in the workplace, at the grocery store and sometimes right in our own homes. It can be very difficult dealing with rude people, especially if you are exposed to one on a daily basis, such as the office jerk or the less-than-considerate spouse. However, there are strategies that you can employ to attempt to alter the rude behavior in a not-so-rude way. Sometimes these strategies can be highly effective and sometimes not so much, depending on the person you are dealing with. The best method for dealing with rude people is to adjust your reaction to them. After all, you may not be able to change the behavior of others, but you do have control over how you react to that behavior. One way to avoid a negative reaction to a rude person is to consider why the person is acting the way he is in the first place.…
-conflict with Beth -she thinks he cares too much (Cal wonders how the/got so far apart)…
it could sometimes be more of a task than a way of life for many and as a result many individuals miss great opportunities by not being able to connect with the people around them.…
Nepal, being a village-dominant country has almost quarter of its population comprising older people (60+ age group) according to the census report and it is found that the population of older people is gradually increasing. The 60+ aged group people are called dependant and inactive people .Elder people are a vital part of the society where we live in. But it is also a bitter truth that older people are not treated well so far in the family or in a society at present context.…