The Characters In Judith Guest's Ordinary People

Judith Guest's novel, Ordinary People, is quite a unique story in that it has two protagonists. It alternates between the Conrad's story and Calvin's, his father. Although they seem interrelated, especially at the beginning, they are more like two completely different stories which happen to occasionally affect one another before splitting off and going their own ways once more. Conrad's main concern seems to be his emotional time bomb, always threatening to blow but never knowing when it's going to happen and drag him back into his depressed and suicidal state. Calvin's story seems at first to be all about trying to control Conrad's emotional problems, but it gradually becomes a fight to simply keep the family together. As the story progresses, he gets into more arguments with his wife, Beth, about how to deal with the past and Conrad's emotional state. Calvin believes the family should talk through their problems whereas Beth believes that the family should simply move on and forget the past, which leads to
Berger, his new psychologist, who asks him to return twice a week and to this comment, Conrad thinks to himself: "there are no choices; it only looks as if there are." However, he later realizes when he is with Karen that his time with Dr. Berger is helping him, saying it is the only time in the week he can feel better. As he talks to Karen, he seems to get angry and almost jealous of the fact that she seems to be doing better and that she has very little time to spare for him due to her participation in a play. Coming back to Calvin, he tries to make small talk with his son, but Conrad makes it clear he doesn't feel like talking. Beth then drags him to a party where, after drinking a bit and listening to lawyer jokes, he is asked a bit about Conrad. When he lets it slip that Conrad is seeing a psychologist, Beth instantly takes him home, accusing him of violation of privacy, though she refuses to say