ipl-logo

Analyzing Conrad Jarrett's Ordinary People

504 Words3 Pages

Analysis of Ordinary People In the movie, the Jarrett family is a rather normal family who has just lost one of their sons. After they lose Buck the family becomes very dysfunctional as Conrad, the other son, blames himself for his brothers death, and Beth, the mother, feels anger toward Conrad. Throughout the film, the family engages in many different acts of silence and violence. Conrad and Beth tend to use violence in the way they defend themselves. The dad, however, begins by using silence that developed into violence towards the end. Conrad Jarrett has had poor mental health since his brother died. In the beginning of the film, Conrad uses silence with his mother. Every time they come into contact they both refuse to acknowledge anything …show more content…

Beth uses silence against Calvin a lot throughout the film during their discussions. At one point in the movie, while she and Calvin are having a discussion she walks away when he starts talking about both of their feelings. On multiple occasions Beth gets angry with Conrad when he tries to bring up Buck. This results from her own feelings not being addressed. Beth could create safety for her and Conrad to be able to have open and honest discussions about their feelings. By talking with others she would stop withdrawing and avoiding her feelings. Calvin uses large amounts of silence in the beginning of the film, but turns to more violence towards the end. While running with a work friend, Calvin disregards his feelings and lies about the family’s well being. When Beth begins to yell at Conrad for quitting the swim team without telling her, Calvin begins to yell at Beth for her poor treatment of Conrad and relates her yelling to her feelings. Calvin could create safety for him and the rest of the family to have a sincere discussion and for them to be honest with each other. The Jarrett family uses many different techniques of silence and violence to mask their true feelings. If they would use the conflict management techniques mentioned, they would have a healthy and open relationship as a family. By having open conversations, the family could address their Maslow love and belonging

Show More
Related
1043 Words | 5 Pages

Your mother does not hate you—"(13). It is pretty hard to proof that when Beth is so cold towards Conrad, of course, Calvin is not going to let Conrad think otherwise or else that would hurt him more than it already does. These are the way I relate to Calvin

Read More
686 Words | 3 Pages

Additionally, she should stop demonizing Conrad. Furthermore, Beth often shows signs of silence through avoiding. She attempts to solve every misfortune by getting away and going on vacation.

Read More
1058 Words | 5 Pages

This is due to Calvin’s overprotection of Conrad, Beth’s narcissism, and how their parenting principles differ. This only creates more tension between the two. In Judith Guest’s, Ordinary People, Calvin’s overprotection of Conrad, Beth’s narcissism, and conflicting parenting principles leads to Calvin and Beth splitting up. Calvin is always very protective of Conrad. This is a dominant theme throughout the book and in some ways, it drives the story.

Read More
989 Words | 4 Pages

Conrad meets with Dr. Berger in this quote to talk about trying to be himself and not his brother. Because of Conrad’s loss of his brother, Conrad shows his insecurity because he feels the need to fulfill his brother’s shoes. Conrad takes the blame for not saving his brother Buck, which causes him to feel insecure about who he has become and the mistakes he made. Second, Conrad feels insecure about how looks on the first day back to school after his suicide attempt. In the start of Ordinary People, Conrad starts recovering from the hospital and his suicide attempt.

Read More
850 Words | 4 Pages

Due to the therapy, their little boy, Denny, is born healthy. As time goes on they are presented with opportunities to make him smarter, thinner, and more athletic. In turn, Gary questions if they have made the right moral decision concerning their son. Furthermore, what happens to the relationship between a father and his son when the son becomes a perfect stranger? Perfect Stranger illustrates how a parent’s decision to change pieces of their son’s genetic makeup cannot only change what makes him who he is but, can also have a negative impact on the people around him.

Read More
515 Words | 3 Pages

He too, like Beth, practiced repression when dealing with Buck's death. Throughout the film, he is perceived as a sort of mediator between mom and son and serves as the rational superego that his wife does not have. In doing this, he is consistently honest and genuinely voices his thoughts and feeling, which occasionally cause him to sound demeaning and critical. His main problem in conflict management is failing to validate other’s feelings which consequently cause the receiver to feel emotionally insecure. This can be demonstrated when he was with Beth on the golf course.

Read More
655 Words | 3 Pages

Ordinary People In the award winning film, Ordinary People, the Jarrett family has just suffered the loss of their eldest son, Buck. The family lacks the ability to express the grief in their loss. A conflict management technique that could have helped the Jarrett family be more open about their emotions is to create safety. Conrad turns to violence and silence when safety is not established.

Read More
637 Words | 3 Pages

Next, you learn that he feels responsible for the death of his brother, and that's why he's suffered so much the past few years. ‘“For killing him, don't you know that?”’(223). Once Conrad calms down, Berger says to him that it was good he had a breakdown. ‘“Feeling is not selective, I keep telling you that”’ (227). Throughout the course of the sessions held, Berger talked to Conrad about feeling, and in the beginning of the book, he wasn't able to let himself feel

Read More
1268 Words | 6 Pages

Karen and Conrad have bonded over their time in the mental hospital; Once they leave the hospital there is no real reason for them to keep in contact unless it is to just check up on one another. “The only one who can help you is you,” Karen tells Conrad this when they meet at a diner to catch up. Later Karen says that she needs to leave early because she has things to do but Conrad thinks that he did something to make her leave, he feels like he is always the one driving people away. This brings Conrad's confidence down significantly, he has trouble making friends let alone keeping them and when he finally had someone to talk to she left. As the novel continues Conrad gets worse and he can't seem to find a way out of his depressive episode until one day he read the newspaper; “Teenager committed suicide” Conrad instantly was overflowed with a wave of shock and guilt, he couldn't believe she had given in and let her thoughts overpower her.

Read More
435 Words | 2 Pages

They move forward where as Beth does not. Conrad and Calvin move towards healing as they recognize the the reason why they’re grieving, by finding counsel that helps them to let go of grief and to find themselves,

Read More
1288 Words | 6 Pages

“One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest” is a film directed by Miloš Forman, based on the novel by Ken Kesey. The Film was released in 1975. It is the story of a convicted man, trying to outsmart the American legal system by playing mentally ill. The film starts at the beginning when the main character, Randle McMurphy, enters the mental institution. It won 6 Golden Globes as well as 5 Oscars and many other nominations.

Read More
1146 Words | 5 Pages

Society as a whole is something you make of it. If one wants to denounce the society they live in because it is “phony” that is because they’ve made the world around them phony. The character of Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye is a prime example of someone being stuck in the idea that society is unchanging. Society is just how a person perceives the world in front of them. The eye of the beholder is the one that creates the society of their choice.

Read More
456 Words | 2 Pages

Beth is exceedingly self centered and unloving. She showed this when she believed her own son blackmailed her into getting what he wanted when in reality, Conrad is just trying to move on and be happy. The Jarrets are trying to recover from their son’s death and attempting to move on from the tragedy. During a counseling session Conrad realizes that he may be the one not forgiving his mother for some of the events that have happened. This shows how tough it is to overcome a tragedy and move on.

Read More
411 Words | 2 Pages

She views Minnie as a friend and overlooks the racism. Additionally, she does not understand social cues that is hinted when no women answer her calls, whereas Boo accepts the fact that no one will accept him and “wants to say inside”. Whilst Lee suggests that those who do not follow societal expectations are misjudged, Taylor condemns that those who have a different reality are mainly

Read More
1658 Words | 7 Pages

Conrad has a significant breakthrough on his path toward recovery. Thus, Conrad confronts his survivor’s guilt and allows himself to begin to enjoy life. He also forgives his mother. There’s a heart-wrenching scene at the end of the movie where Conrad tries to give his mother a hug.

Read More

More about Analyzing Conrad Jarrett's Ordinary People

Related Topics

Open Document